Beginning
29 Moreover Iyov continued his mashal, and said,
2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when Eloah was shomer over me;
3 When His ner (lamp) shined upon my rosh, and when by His ohr I walked through choshech;
4 As I was in the days of my prime, when the Sod Eloah (friendship, counsel of G-d) was over my ohel;
5 When Shaddai was yet with me, when my children were around me;
6 When I washed my steps with khemah, and the tzur poured me out streams of shemen;
7 When I went out to the sha’ar through the city, when I took my moshav in the rekhov!
8 The ne’arim saw me, and stepped aside, and the aged arose, and stood up.
9 The sarim (nobles) refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
10 The nobles held their peace, and their leshon cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ozen heard me, then it commended me; and when the ayin saw me, it did bear witness of me,
12 Because I delivered the oni that cried out, and the yatom that had no ozer (helper) for him.
13 The birkat oved (blessing of the oppressed) came upon me, and I caused the lev almanah to sing for joy.
14 I put on tzedek, and it clothed me; my mishpat was as a robe and a tzanif (turban).
15 I was eyes to the ivver, and feet was I to the pisei’ach.
16 I was an av to the evyonim (needy); and the cause which I knew not I investigated.
17 And I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the prey out of his shinayim.
18 Then I said, I shall die in my ken (nest, house), and I shall multiply my yamim like the chol (sand).
19 My shoresh was spread out to the mayim, and the tal lay all night upon my branch.
20 My kavod was fresh with me, and my keshet was ever new in my yad.
21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my etzah (counsel).
22 Acharei (after) my words they spoke not again; and my speech fell upon them.
23 And they waited for me as for the matar; and they opened their mouth wide as for the malkosh (spring, late rain).
24 I smiled on them when they did not believe; and the ohr of my countenance they did not cast down.
25 I chose out their derech, and sat as Rosh, and dwelt as a melech with his army, as one that comforteth the avelim (mourners).
30 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose avot I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my tzon.
2 Yea, what use was the koach of their hands to me, since their vigor hath perished?
3 For choser (want, lack) and hunger they gnawed the parched ground desolate and waste.
4 They cut up mallow plants by the bushes, and juniper roots for their lechem.
5 They were banished from among men, (they shouted after them as after a ganav);
6 To dwell in the clefts of the wadis, in holes of aphar, and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; tachat (under) the underbrush they were huddled together.
8 They were bnei naval, yea, sons of base men; they were driven forth out of ha’aretz.
9 And atah (now) am I their mocking song, yea, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not rok (spit) in my face [Mt 26:67].
11 Because He hath loosed my bowstring, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the resen (bridle) before me.
12 Upon my yamin (right hand) rise up the rabble; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13 They break up my road, they set forward my overthrow, they have no ozer (helper).
14 They approach me as through a wide breach; in the shoah (desolation, Holocaust), they rolled themselves upon me.
15 Ballahot (terrors) are turned upon me; they pursue my dignity like the ruach, and my safety passeth away like a cloud.
16 And now my nefesh ebbs away from me; the yemei oni have taken hold upon me.
17 My atzmot are pierced in me in the night, and my gnawing pains take no rest.
18 By great koach is my garment disfigured; it bindeth me about like the collar of my kuttonet (chiton, robe).
19 He hath cast me into the chomer, and I am become like aphar and ashes.
20 I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost answer me lo (not); I stand up, and Thou regardest me not.
21 Thou art become cruel to me; with Thy strong yad Thou opposest Thyself against me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the ruach; Thou causest me to drive along, and vanish in the roaring of the storm.
23 For I know that Thou wilt bring me down to mavet, to the bais mo’ed l’khol chai.
24 Yet will not one stretch out his yad in a heap of ruin, or cry out for help in his disaster.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my nefesh grieved for the evyon (needy)?
26 When I looked for tov, then rah came unto me; and when I waited for ohr, there came ofel (darkness).
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not; yemei oni met me.
28 I went mourning without the sun; I stood up, and I cried out in the kahal.
29 I am an ach to jackals, and a re’a to owls.
30 My ohr (skin) grows black upon me, and my atzmot are burned with fever.
31 My kinnor (harp) also is turned to evel (mourning), and my flute into the voice of them that weep.
31 I made a brit (covenant) with mine eyes; how then look I upon a betulah?
2 For what chelek of Eloah is there from above? And what nachalah of Shaddai from on high?
3 Is not destruction to the wicked? And a disaster to the poalei aven (workers of wrong)?
4 Doth not He see my derech, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with shav (vanity, falsehood), or if my regel hath hasted to mirmah (deceit),
6 Let me be weighed in scales of tzedek that Eloah may know mine tom (integrity).
7 If my step hath turned out of the derech, and mine lev walked after mine eyes, and if any mum hath cleaved to mine hands,
8 Then let me sow, and let acher (another) eat; yea, let my harvest be uprooted.
9 If mine lev have been deceived by an isha, or if I have lurked at petach (doorway) of my re’a;
10 Then let my isha grind for another, and let another kneel over her.
11 For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an avon to be brought before judges.
12 For it is an eish that consumeth to Abaddon, and would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the mishpat (cause) of my eved or of my amah, when they contended with me,
14 What then shall I do when El riseth up? And when He visiteth, what shall I answer Him?
15 Did not He that made me in the beten make them? And did not Echad fashion us in the rechem?
16 If I have withheld the poor from their chefetz (desire), or have caused the eyes of the almanah to grow weary,
17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the yatom hath not eaten thereof;
18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with an av, and I have guided her from beten immi;)
19 If I have seen any oved (one perishing) for want of clothing, or any evyon (needy) without covering,
20 If his heart did not bless me for warming him with the giz (fleece) of my sheep,
21 If I have lifted up my yad against the yatom, when I saw my influence in the sha’ar (gate, court);
22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder, and mine zero’a be broken from its socket.
23 For destruction from El was a pachad to me, and by reason of His majesty I could not endure.
24 If I have made zahav my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my security,
25 If I rejoice because my wealth was rav (great), and because mine yad had gotten much,
26 If I beheld the ohr when it shined, or the yarei’ach moving in splendor,
27 And my lev hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my yad [in heathen worship];
28 This also were an avon to be punished by the judge; for then I would have been unfaithful, denying El that is on high.
29 If I rejoice at the misfortune of him that hated me, or gloated when rah found him,
30 Neither have I allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse to his nefesh.
31 Have the men of my ohel not said, Where can we find one who has not been sated with his basar (meat)?
32 The stranger did not spend the night in the street, but I opened my delet to the ger.
33 If I concealed my peysha like Adam, by hiding mine avon in my heart,
34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of mishpekhot terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of doors?
35 Oh that one would hear me! See, my tav [signature], that Shaddai would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a sefer [of indictment];
36 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder, and bind it to me like atarot (crowns).
37 I would declare unto Him the number of my steps; like a nagid (prince) would I go near unto Him.
38 If my adamah cry against me, or if the furrows had wept together,
39 If I have eaten the yield thereof without kesef (payment), or have broken the nefesh of the tenants thereof,
40 Let thistles grow instead of chittim (wheat), and weed instead of barley. The divrei Iyov are ended.
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