Job 30 | LEB | STEP | “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.

‏ Job 30

Job’s Final Defense Continued

1 “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⌟? ^{▼▼Literally “the strength of their hands what is for me”}
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 ^{▼▼Hebrew “the”} thief,
6 ⌞so that they dwell⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “to dwell”}
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⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “sons of good-for-nothing”} yes, ⌞a disreputable brood⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “sons of no name”}
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⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “from my face”}
12 On the right hand the brood rises ^{▼▼Hebrew “rise”} up;
⌞they put me to flight⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “my feet they send away”}
and they build up their ⌞siege ramps⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “the ways/paths of their disaster”} 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⌟; ^{▼▼Literally “night my bones he pierces upon me,” or “night pierces my bones upon me”}
my pains do not take a rest.
18 He seizes my clothing with ⌞great power⌟; ^{▼▼Literally “much of strength”}
he grasps me by my tunic’s collar.
19 He has cast me into the dirt,
and I have become like dust ^{▼▼Hebrew “the dust”} and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help, but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} 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⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “hard of day”}
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⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “daughters of ostrich”}
30 My skin turns black on me,
and my bones burn with heat.
31 So ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} my lyre came to be used for mourning,
and my flute for the voice of those who weep.