- 30:1But now those who are younger than I / Hold me in derision, / Those whose fathers I disdained / To put with the dogs of my flock.
- 30:2Indeed, what good is the strength of their hands to me? / Their vigor has perished from them.
- 30:3Withered up through want and hunger, / They gnaw at the dry ground, / A gloom of waste and desolation.
- 30:4They pick the mallow upon the bushes, / And the roots of the broom shrub are their food.
- 30:5They are driven from the company of men; / Men cry after them as after a thief;
- 30:6So that they must dwell in the most dreadful ravines, / In caves of the earth and in the rocks.
- 30:7Among the bushes they bray; / Under the nettles they huddle.
- 30:8Sons of fools, indeed sons of nameless men, / They have been stricken from the land.
- 30:9And now I have become their song, / And I am a byword to them.
- 30:10They abhor me; they stand aloof from me; / And they do not withhold their spit from my face.
- 30:11For He has loosened my cord and afflicted me; / Therefore they have cast off restraint in my presence.
- 30:12At my right hand a brood rises up; / They send my feet running / And cast up against me their ways of destruction.
- 30:13They break up my path; / They promote my calamity, / Though there is no profit to them.
- 30:14As through a wide breach they come in; / Amid the ruin they roll on.
- 30:15Terrors are turned upon me; / My honor is pursued as by a wind, / And my prosperity passes away like a cloud.
- 30:16And now my soul is poured out within me; / Days of affliction have taken hold of me.
- 30:17The night rends my bones from me, / And my gnawing pains do not rest.
- 30:18With great force my garments are distorted; / It binds me like the collar of my coat.
- 30:19He has cast me into the mire, / And I am like dust and ashes.
- 30:20I cry unto You, but You do not answer me; / I stand up, and You stare at me.
- 30:21You have turned to become cruel to me; / With the might of Your hand You pursue me.
- 30:22You lift me up into the wind; You make me ride on it; / And You dissolve me in the storm.
- 30:23For I know that You will bring me into death, / And to the house appointed for all living.
- 30:24Nevertheless does not a man put forth his hand when he falls, / Or because of his disaster therefore cry out?
- 30:25Did I not weep for him who had hard days? / Was my soul not grieved for the needy?
- 30:26When I expected good, evil came; / And when I waited for light, darkness came.
- 30:27My inward parts are in turmoil and are not still; / Days of affliction have drawn near to me.
- 30:28I go about in sunless mourning. / I rise up in the congregation; I cry for help.
- 30:29I am a brother to jackals / And a companion to ostriches.
- 30:30My skin is black and falling from me, / And my bones burn with heat.
- 30:31My lyre has become mourning, / And my pipe, the voice of those who weep.
- 31:1I made a covenant with my eyes; / How then can I gaze upon a virgin?
- 31:2What then is the portion from God above, / Or the inheritance of the Almighty on high?
- 31:3Is it not calamity for the unjust / And misfortune for the workers of iniquity?
- 31:4Does He not see my ways / And count all my steps?
- 31:5If I have walked with falsehood, / And my foot has hastened after deceit -
- 31:6Let Him weigh me in a righteous balance, / And let God know my integrity -
- 31:7If my step has turned from the way, / And my heart has gone after my own eyes, / And if any spot has stuck to my hands;
- 31:8May I sow and another eat; / Indeed may my produce be rooted up.
- 31:9If my heart has been enticed into following after a woman, / Or I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door;
- 31:10May my wife grind for another, / And may others kneel over her.
- 31:11For that would have been a heinous act, / And it would be wickedness, to be punished by the judges.
- 31:12For it is a fire that devours to Abaddon / And would root up all my increase.
- 31:13If I have despised the cause of my servant or my maid / When they contended with me,
- 31:14What then will I do when God rises up? / And when He visits me, what will I answer Him?
- 31:15Did not He who made me in the womb make him? / And was it not One who fashioned us in the womb?
- 31:16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, / Or have let the eyes of the widow fail,
- 31:17Or have eaten my morsel alone / Without the orphan eating of it -
- 31:18Rather, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, / And from my mother's womb I guided the widow -
- 31:19If I have seen someone perishing from lack of clothing / Or that the needy had no covering;
- 31:20If his loins have not blessed me, / And he has not been made warm with the fleece of my sheep;
- 31:21If I have raised my hand against the orphan / Because I saw that I had support among those in the gate;
- 31:22May my shoulder blade fall from the shoulder, / And may my arm be broken at the elbow.
- 31:23For calamity from God is dreadful to me, / And because of His majesty I can do nothing.
- 31:24If I have made gold my hope, / And have called fine gold my confidence;
- 31:25If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great / And because my hand had acquired much;
- 31:26If I have looked at the sun when it shone / Or the moon going on in splendor,
- 31:27And my heart has been secretly enticed, / And my mouth has kissed my hand;
- 31:28It too would be wickedness, to be punished by the judges, / For I would have denied God above.
- 31:29If I have rejoiced at the misfortune of him who hated me, / Or have exulted when evil found him -
- 31:30Rather, I have not allowed my mouth to sin / By asking for his life with a curse -
- 31:31If the men of my tent have not said, / Who can find one who has not been filled with our master's meat? -
- 31:32The sojourner has not lodged in the street; / I have opened my doors to the highway -
- 31:33If I have covered my transgressions as Adam did / By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
- 31:34Because I so dreaded the great multitude, / And the contempt of the families so frightened me, / That I was silent and did not go out my door -
- 31:35Oh, that I had someone to hear me! / Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me. / And let my accuser write up the charge.
- 31:36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; / I would bind it onto me like a crown;
- 31:37I would declare to Him the number of my steps; / Like a prince I would approach Him!
- 31:38If my land cries out against me, / And its furrows weep together;
- 31:39If I have eaten its strength without money, / And have caused its owners to lose their life;
- 31:40May thorns come forth instead of wheat, / And pungent weeds instead of barley. / The words of Job are ended.
- 32:1Then these three men ceased answering Job, for he was righteous in his own eyes.