Beginning
Job’s Final Defense
29 Then[a] Job again took up his discourse and said,
2 “O that I were[b] as in the months before,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his shining lamp was over my head—
by his light I walked through darkness—
4 as when I was in the days of my prime,
when God’s confiding was over my house,[c]
5 when Shaddaiwas still with me,
my children were all around me,
6 when my paths were washed in sour milk,
and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.
7 “At my going out the gate to the city,
I secured my seat in the square.
8 Young men saw me and stepped aside,
and the aged rose up and stood.
9 Officials refrained from talking,
and they laid their hand on their mouth.
10 The voices[d] of nobles were hushed,
and their tongue stuck to their palate.
11 “When the ear heard and commended me,
and the eye saw and testified in support of me
12 because I saved the needy who cried for help,
and I saved[e] the orphan for whom there was no helper.
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a headband.
15 “I was eyes to the blind,
and I was feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor,
and I investigated the stranger’s[f] legal dispute.
17 And I broke the evil one’s jaw bones,
and I made his prey drop from his teeth.
18 “And I thought, ‘I will pass away in my nest,
and like the phoenix I shall multiply my days.
19 My roots were open to water,
and dew spent the night on my branches;
20 My glory was new with me,
and I was revitalized regularly.’[g]
21 “They listened to me and waited,
and they kept silent for my counsel.
22 After my word, they did not speak again,
and my word dropped down like dew upon them.
23 And they waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled for them when they had no confidence in anything,
and they did not extinguish the light of my face.
25 I chose their way, and I sat as head,
and I dwelled like a king among the troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
Job’s Final Defense Continued
30 “But now those younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me,
whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
2 Moreover, what use to me is the strength of their hands?[h]
With them, vigor is destroyed.
3 Through want and through barren hunger
they are gnawing in the dry region in the darkness of desolation and waste.
4 They are picking salt herbs, the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of broom trees to warm themselves.
5 They were driven out from fellow people;
they shout at them as at a[i] thief,
6 so that they dwell[j]
in holes of the ground and in the rocks.
7 They bray among the bushes;
they are gathered under the nettles.
8 A senseless crowd,[k] yes, a disreputable brood,[l]
they were cast out from the land.
9 “But now I am their mocking song,
and I have become a byword for them.
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me,
and they do not withhold spit from my face
11 because he has loosened his bowstring and humbled me,
and they have thrown off restraint in my presence.[m]
12 On the right hand the brood rises[n] up;
they put me to flight,[o]
and they build up their siege ramps[p] against me.
13 They destroy my path;
they promote my destruction;
they have no helper.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid a crash they rush on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my hope of deliverance passed by like a cloud.
16 “And now my life is poured out onto me;
days of misery have taken hold of me.
17 At night I am in great pain;[q]
my pains do not take a rest.
18 He seizes my clothing with great power;[r]
he grasps me by my tunic’s collar.
19 He has cast me into the dirt,
and I have become like dust[s] and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help, but[t] you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.
21 You have turned cruel to me;
you persecute me with your hand’s might.
22 You lift me up to the wind—you make me ride it,
and you toss me about in the storm.
23 Indeed, I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house of assembly for all the living.
24 “Surely someone must not send a hand against the needy
when, in his misfortune, there is a cry of help for them.
25 Have I not wept for the unfortunate,[u]
and grieved myself over the poor?
26 Indeed, I hoped for good, but evil came,
and I waited for light, but darkness came.
27 My bowels are in turmoil, and they are not still;
days of misery come to confront me.
28 I go about in mourning garb, but not in sunlight;
I stand up in the assembly, and I cry for help.
29 I am a companion for the jackals
and a companion for ostriches.[v]
30 My skin turns black on me,
and my bones burn with heat.
31 So[w] my lyre came to be used for mourning,
and my flute for the voice of those who weep.
Job’s Final Defense Continued
31 “I made a covenant with my eyes,
so[x] how could I look closely upon a virgin?
2 And what is the portion of God from above
or[y] the heritage of Shaddai from on high?
3 Is not disaster for the evil one
and ruin for the workers of mischief?
4 Does he not see my ways
and count all my steps?
5 “If I have walked with falseness,
and my foot has hastened to deceit,
6 let him weigh me in the balance of justice,
and let God know my blamelessness.
7 If my steps have turned aside from the way,
and my heart has walked after my eyes,
and my hand has clung to a spot,
8 let me sow, and let another eat,
and let my crops be rooted out.
9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and at my neighbor’s doorway I have lain in wait,
10 let my wife grind for another,
and let other men kneel over her,
11 for that is a shameful act,
and that is a criminal offense.[z]
12 Indeed, that is a fire that will consume up to Abaddon,
and it would uproot all my crop.
13 “If I have rejected my male or[aa] female slave’s case
when their complaint was against me,
14 then[ab] what shall I do when God rises up?
And when he enquires, how shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 “If I have withheld the desire of the poor from them,
or[ac] I have caused the widow’s eyes to fail,
17 or I have eaten my morsel alone,[ad]
and the orphan has not eaten from it
18 (for from my childhood he[ae] grew up with[af] me like a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided her[ag]),
19 if I have seen the one who perishes because of no clothing
or[ah] that there is no covering for the poor,
20 if his loins have not blessed me,
or[ai] by means of my sheep’s fleece he has warmed himself,
21 if I have raised my hand against an orphan
because I saw my supporters at the gate,
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23 Indeed, the disaster from God was a dread for me,
and I was powerless[aj] because of his majesty.
24 “If I have made gold my trust,
or[ak] I have called fine gold my security,
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great
or[al] because my hand found a fortune,
26 if I looked at the sun when it shone
or[am] at the moon moving in splendor,
27 and I was secretly enticed,[an]
and my hand threw them a kiss,[ao]
28 this also is an iniquity to be judged,
for I have deceived God above.
29 “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of the one who hated me
or[ap] have exulted when evil overtook him—
30 no,[aq] I have not allowed my mouth to sin,
to ask his life with a curse.
31 Have the people of my tent not said,[ar]
‘O that[as] someone[at] had not been satisfied with his meat’?
32 An alien has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my door to the traveler.
33 Have I concealed[au] my transgressions as other human beings
to hide my iniquity in my bosom
34 because I dreaded the great multitude,
and the contempt of clans terrified me,
so that I kept quiet, I did not go out of the doorway?
35 O that[av] I had[aw] someone hearing me!
Here is my signature;
let Shaddai answer me!
As for[ax] the written communication that my adversary[ay] has written,
36 I would surely[az] carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me like a crown.
37 I would give him an account of my steps;
I would approach him like a noble.
38 If my land has cried out against me,
and its furrows have wept together,
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment,
or[ba] I have caused the breath of its owners to die,
40 let thorns grow in place of wheat
and noxious weeds in place of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.
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