Job 30 – read and compare multiple versions
Job 30
[1] “But now those who are younger than I have me in derision,
whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.
[2] Of what use is the strength of their hands to me,
men in whom ripe age has perished?
[3] They are gaunt from lack and famine.
They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
[4] They pluck salt herbs by the bushes.
The roots of the broom tree are their food.
[5] They are driven out from among men.
They cry after them as after a thief,
[6] so that they live in frightful valleys,
and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
[7] They bray among the bushes.
They are gathered together under the nettles.
[8] They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men.
They were flogged out of the land. [9] “Now I have become their song.
Yes, I am a byword to them.
[10] They abhor me, they stand aloof from me,
and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.
[11] For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me;
and they have thrown off restraint before me.
[12] On my right hand rise the rabble.
They thrust aside my feet.
They cast their ways of destruction up against me.
[13] They mar my path.
They promote my destruction
without anyone’s help.
[14] As through a wide breach they come.
They roll themselves in amid the ruin.
[15] Terrors have turned on me.
They chase my honor as the wind.
My welfare has passed away as a cloud. [16] “Now my soul is poured out within me.
Days of affliction have taken hold of me.
[17] In the night season my bones are pierced in me,
and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
[18] My garment is disfigured by great force.
It binds me about as the collar of my tunic.
[19] He has cast me into the mire.
I have become like dust and ashes.
[20] I cry to you, and you do not answer me.
I stand up, and you gaze at me.
[21] You have turned to be cruel to me.
With the might of your hand you persecute me.
[22] You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it.
You dissolve me in the storm.
[23] For I know that you will bring me to death,
to the house appointed for all living. [24] “However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall?
Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
[25] Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble?
Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?
[26] When I looked for good, then evil came.
When I waited for light, darkness came.
[27] My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest.
Days of affliction have come on me.
[28] I go mourning without the sun.
I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
[29] I am a brother to jackals,
and a companion to ostriches.
[30] My skin grows black and peels from me.
My bones are burned with heat.
[31] Therefore my harp has turned to mourning,
and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.
[2] Of what use is the strength of their hands to me,
men in whom ripe age has perished?
[3] They are gaunt from lack and famine.
They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
[4] They pluck salt herbs by the bushes.
The roots of the broom tree are their food.
[5] They are driven out from among men.
They cry after them as after a thief,
[6] so that they live in frightful valleys,
and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
[7] They bray among the bushes.
They are gathered together under the nettles.
[8] They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men.
They were flogged out of the land. [9] “Now I have become their song.
Yes, I am a byword to them.
[10] They abhor me, they stand aloof from me,
and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.
[11] For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me;
and they have thrown off restraint before me.
[12] On my right hand rise the rabble.
They thrust aside my feet.
They cast their ways of destruction up against me.
[13] They mar my path.
They promote my destruction
without anyone’s help.
[14] As through a wide breach they come.
They roll themselves in amid the ruin.
[15] Terrors have turned on me.
They chase my honor as the wind.
My welfare has passed away as a cloud. [16] “Now my soul is poured out within me.
Days of affliction have taken hold of me.
[17] In the night season my bones are pierced in me,
and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
[18] My garment is disfigured by great force.
It binds me about as the collar of my tunic.
[19] He has cast me into the mire.
I have become like dust and ashes.
[20] I cry to you, and you do not answer me.
I stand up, and you gaze at me.
[21] You have turned to be cruel to me.
With the might of your hand you persecute me.
[22] You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it.
You dissolve me in the storm.
[23] For I know that you will bring me to death,
to the house appointed for all living. [24] “However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall?
Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
[25] Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble?
Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?
[26] When I looked for good, then evil came.
When I waited for light, darkness came.
[27] My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest.
Days of affliction have come on me.
[28] I go mourning without the sun.
I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
[29] I am a brother to jackals,
and a companion to ostriches.
[30] My skin grows black and peels from me.
My bones are burned with heat.
[31] Therefore my harp has turned to mourning,
and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.