Job’s Present State Is Humiliating
30 “But now those who are younger than I (A)mock me,
Whose fathers I refused to put with the dogs of my flock.
2 Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.
3 From poverty and famine they are gaunt,
They who gnaw at the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,
4 Who pluck saltweed by the bushes,
And whose food is the root of the broom shrub.
5 They are driven from the community;
They shout against them as against a thief,
6 So that they live on the slopes of ravines,
In holes in the ground and among the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they [a]cry out;
Under the weeds they are gathered together.
8 Worthless [b]fellows, even [c]those without a name,
They were cast out from the land.
9 “And now I have become their [d](B)taunt,
And I have become a [e](C)byword to them.
10 They loathe me and stand aloof from me,
And they do not [f]refrain from (D)spitting in my face.
11 Because He has undone [g]my [h]bowstring and (E)afflicted me,
They have cast off (F)the bridle before me.
12 On the right hand their [i]mob arises;
They (G)push aside my feet (H)and pile up their ways of destruction against me.
13 They (I)break up my path,
They promote my destruction;
No one restrains them.
14 As through a wide gap they come,
[j]Amid the storm they roll on.
15 (J)Sudden terrors are turned upon me;
They chase away my dignity like the wind,
And my [k]prosperity has passed away (K)like a cloud.
16 “And now (L)my soul is poured out [l]within me;
Days of misery have seized me.
17 At night it pierces (M)my bones [m]within me,
And my gnawing pains do not rest.
18 By a great force my garment is (N)distorted;
It ties me up like the collar of my coat.
19 He has thrown me into the (O)mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I (P)cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.
21 You have [n]become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You (Q)persecute me.
22 You (R)lift me up to the wind and make me ride it;
And You dissolve me in a storm.
23 For I know that You (S)will bring me to death,
And to the (T)house of meeting for all living.
24 “Yet does one in a heap of ruins not reach out with his hand,
Or in his disaster does he not (U)cry out for help?
25 Have I not (V)wept for the [o]one whose life is hard?
Was my soul not grieved for (W)the needy?
26 When I (X)expected good, evil came;
When I waited for light, (Y)darkness came.
27 [p]I am seething (Z)within and cannot rest;
Days of misery confront me.
28 I go about [q](AA)mourning without comfort;
I stand up in the assembly and (AB)cry out for help.
29 I have become a brother to (AC)jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
30 My (AD)skin turns black [r]on me,
And my (AE)bones burn with [s]fever.
31 Therefore my (AF)harp [t]is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the sound of those who weep.
Footnotes
- Job 30:7 Or bray
- Job 30:8 Lit sons
- Job 30:8 Lit sons
- Job 30:9 Lit song
- Job 30:9 I.e., prob. a word of insult
- Job 30:10 Lit withhold spit from my face
- Job 30:11 Some mss His
- Job 30:11 Or cord
- Job 30:12 Or youth arise
- Job 30:14 Lit Under
- Job 30:15 Or welfare
- Job 30:16 Lit upon
- Job 30:17 Lit from upon
- Job 30:21 Lit turned to be
- Job 30:25 Lit hard of day
- Job 30:27 Lit My inward parts are boiling
- Job 30:28 Or blackened, but not by the heat of the sun
- Job 30:30 Lit from upon
- Job 30:30 Lit heat
- Job 30:31 Lit becomes
Cross references
- Job 30:1 : Job 12:4
- Job 30:9 : Job 12:4
- Job 30:9 : Job 17:6; Ps 69:11; Lam 3:14, 63
- Job 30:10 : Num 12:14; Deut 25:9; Job 17:6; Is 50:6; Matt 26:67
- Job 30:11 : Ruth 1:21; Ps 88:7
- Job 30:11 : Ps 32:9
- Job 30:12 : Ps 140:4, 5
- Job 30:12 : Job 19:12
- Job 30:13 : Is 3:12
- Job 30:15 : Job 3:25; 31:23; Ps 55:3-5
- Job 30:15 : Job 7:9; Hos 13:3
- Job 30:16 : 1 Sam 1:15; Job 3:24; Ps 22:14; 42:4; Is 53:12
- Job 30:17 : Job 30:30
- Job 30:18 : Job 2:7
- Job 30:19 : Ps 69:2, 14
- Job 30:20 : Job 19:7
- Job 30:21 : Job 10:3; 16:9, 14; 19:6, 22
- Job 30:22 : Job 9:17; 27:21
- Job 30:23 : Job 9:22; 10:8
- Job 30:23 : Job 3:19; Eccl 12:5
- Job 30:24 : Job 19:7
- Job 30:25 : Ps 35:13, 14; Rom 12:15
- Job 30:25 : Job 24:4
- Job 30:26 : Job 3:25, 26; Jer 8:15
- Job 30:26 : Job 19:8
- Job 30:27 : Lam 2:11
- Job 30:28 : Job 30:31; Ps 38:6; 42:9; 43:2
- Job 30:28 : Job 19:7
- Job 30:29 : Ps 44:19; Mic 1:8
- Job 30:30 : Job 2:7
- Job 30:30 : Ps 102:3
- Job 30:31 : Is 24:8