Beginning

29 Job continues:

² “Oh, for the years gone by when God took care of me, ³ when he lighted the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness; ⁴ yes, in my early years, when the friendship of God was felt in my home; ⁵ when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me; ⁶ when my projects prospered and even the rock poured out streams of olive oil to me!

⁷ “Those were the days when I went out to the city gate and took my place among the honored elders. ⁸ The young saw me and stepped aside, and even the aged rose and stood up in respect at my coming. ⁹ The princes stood in silence and laid their hands upon their mouths. ¹⁰ The highest officials of the city stood in quietness. ¹¹ All rejoiced in what I said. All who saw me spoke well of me.

¹² “For I, as an honest judge,^[a] helped the poor in their need and the fatherless who had no one to help them. ¹³ I helped those who were ready to perish, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy. ¹⁴ All I did was just and honest, for righteousness was my clothing! ¹⁵ I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. ¹⁶ I was as a father to the poor and saw to it that even strangers received a fair trial. ¹⁷ I knocked out the fangs of the godless oppressors and made them drop their victims.

¹⁸ “I thought, ‘Surely I shall die quietly in my nest after a long, good life.’ ¹⁹ For everything I did prospered; the dew lay all night upon my fields and watered them. ²⁰ Fresh honors were constantly given me, and my abilities were constantly refreshed and renewed. ²¹ Everyone listened to me and valued my advice, and was silent until I spoke. ²² And after I spoke, they spoke no more, for my counsel satisfied them. ²³ They longed for me to speak as those in drought-time long for rain. They waited eagerly with open mouths. ²⁴ When they were discouraged, I smiled and that encouraged them and lightened their spirits. ²⁵ I told them what they should do and corrected them as their chief, or as a king instructs his army, and as one who comforts those who mourn.

30 “But now those younger than I deride me—young men whose fathers are less than my dogs. ² Oh, they have strong backs all right, but they are useless, stupid fools. ³ They are gaunt with famine and have been cast out into deserts and the wastelands, desolate and gloomy. ⁴ They eat roots and leaves, ⁵ having been driven from civilization. Men shouted after them as after thieves. ⁶ So now they live in frightening ravines, and in caves, and among the rocks. ⁷ They sound like animals among the bushes, huddling together for shelter beneath the nettles. ⁸ These sons of theirs have also turned out to be fools, yes, children of no name, outcasts of civilization.

⁹ “And now I have become the subject of their ribald song! I am a joke among them! ¹⁰ They despise me and won’t come near me, and don’t mind spitting in my face. ¹¹ For God has placed my life in jeopardy. These young men, having humbled me, now cast off all restraint before me. ¹² This rabble trips me and lays traps in my path. ¹³ They block my road and do everything they can to hasten my calamity, knowing full well that I have no one to help me. ¹⁴ They come at me from all directions. They rush upon me when I am down.

¹⁵ “I live in terror now. They hold me in contempt, and my prosperity has vanished as a cloud before a strong wind. ¹⁶ My heart is broken. Depression haunts my days. ¹⁷ My weary nights are filled with pain as though something were relentlessly gnawing at my bones. ¹⁸ All night long I toss and turn, and my garments bind about me. ¹⁹ God has thrown me into the mud. I have become as dust and ashes.

²⁰ “I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer me. I stand before you and you don’t bother to look. ²¹ You have become cruel toward me and persecute me with great power and effect. ²² You throw me into the whirlwind and dissolve me in the storm. ²³ And I know that your purpose for me is death. ²⁴ I expected my fall to be broken, just as one who falls stretches out his hand or cries for help in his calamity.

²⁵ “And did I not weep for those in trouble? Wasn’t I deeply grieved for the needy? ²⁶ I therefore looked for good to come. Evil came instead. I waited for the light. Darkness came. ²⁷ My heart is troubled and restless. Waves of affliction have come upon me. ^28-29 I am black but not from sunburn. I stand up and cry to the assembly for help. But I might as well save my breath,^[b] for I am considered a brother to jackals and a companion to ostriches. ³⁰ My skin is black and peeling. My bones burn with fever. ³¹ The voice of joy and gladness has turned to mourning.

31 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a girl. ^2-3 I know full well that Almighty God above sends calamity on those who do. ⁴ He sees everything I do and every step I take.

⁵ “If I have lied and deceived— ⁶ but God knows that I am innocent— ^7-8 or if I have stepped off God’s pathway, or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen, or if I am guilty of any other sin, then let someone else reap the crops I have sown and let all that I have planted be rooted out.

⁹ “Or if I have longed for another man’s wife, ¹⁰ then may I die, and may my wife be in another man’s home and someone else become her husband. ¹¹ For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished. ¹² It is a devastating fire that destroys to hell and would root out all I have planted.

¹³ “If I have been unfair to my servants, ¹⁴ how could I face God? What could I say when he questioned me about it? ¹⁵ For God made me and made my servant too. He created us both.

¹⁶ “If I have hurt the poor, or caused widows to weep, ¹⁷ or refused food to hungry orphans— ¹⁸ (but we have always cared for orphans in our home, treating them as our own children)— ^19-20 or if I have seen anyone freezing and not given him clothing or fleece from my sheep to keep him warm, ²¹ or if I have taken advantage of an orphan because I thought I could get away with it— ²² if I have done any of these things, then let my arm be torn from its socket! Let my shoulder be wrenched out of place! ²³ Rather that than face the judgment sent by God; that I dread more than anything else. For if the majesty of God opposes me, what hope is there?

²⁴ “If I have put my trust in money, ²⁵ if my happiness depends on wealth, ²⁶ or if I have looked at the sun shining in the skies or the moon walking down her silver pathway ²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed, and I have worshiped them by kissing my hand to them, ²⁸ this, too, must be punished by the judges. For if I had done such things, it would mean that I denied the God of heaven.

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at harm to an enemy— ³⁰ (but actually I have never cursed anyone nor asked for revenge)— ³¹ or if any of my servants have ever gone hungry— ³² (actually I have never turned away even a stranger but have opened my doors to all)— ³³ or if, like Adam, I have tried to hide my sins, ³⁴ fearing the crowd and its contempt so that I refused to acknowledge my sin and do not go out of my way to help others— ³⁵ (oh, that there were someone who would listen to me and try to see my side of this argument. Look, I will sign my signature to my defense; now let the Almighty show me that I am wrong; let him approve the indictments made against me by my enemies. ³⁶ I would treasure it like a crown. ³⁷ Then I would tell him exactly what I have done and why, presenting my defense as one he listens to).

^38-39 “Or if my land accuses me because I stole the fruit it bears, or if I have murdered its owners to get their land for myself, ⁴⁰ then let thistles grow on that land instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.”

Job’s words are ended.