Job 30 - 32

“But now those younger than I laugh at me,

Whose fathers I rejected even to put with the dogs of my flock.

Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?

Vigor had perished from them.

From want and famine they are gaunt,

Who gnaw the dry ground by night in destruction and desolation,

Who pluck mallow by the bushes,

And whose food is the root of the broom tree.

They are driven from the community;

They shout against them as against a thief,

So that they dwell in the slopes of the valleys,

In holes of the dust and of the rocks.

Among the bushes they cry out;

Under the nettles they are gathered together.

Wicked fools, even those without a name,

They were scourged from the land.

“And now I have become their mocking song;

I have even become a taunting word to them.

They abhor me and keep a distance from me,

And they do not hold back from spitting at my face.

Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me,

They have thrust aside their bridle before me.

On the right hand their brood arises;

They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways to disaster.

They break up my path;

They profit from my destruction;

They have no helper.

As through a wide breach they come,

Amid the storm they roll on.

Terrors are turned against me;

They pursue my nobility as the wind,

And my hope for salvation has passed away like a cloud.

“And now my soul is poured out within me;

Days of affliction have seized me.

At night it pierces my bones within me,

And my gnawing pains take no rest.

By a great force my garment is distorted;

It seizes me about as the collar of my tunic.

He has cast me into the mire,

And I have become like dust and ashes.

I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;

I stand up, and You carefully consider how to be against me.

You have become cruel to me;

With the might of Your hand You hunted me down.

You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride;

And You melt me away in a storm.

For I know that You will bring me to death

And to the house of meeting for all living.

“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,

Or, in his upheaval, is there a cry for help because of them?

Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard?

Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

When I hoped for good, then evil came;

When I waited for light, then thick darkness came.

I am boiling within and cannot be silent;

Days of affliction confront me.

I go about darkened but not by the sun;

I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

I have become a brother to jackals

And a companion of ostriches.

My skin turns black on me,

And my bones burn with fever.

Therefore my harp is turned to mourning,

And my flute to the sound of those who weep.

“I have cut a covenant with my eyes;

How then could I gaze at a virgin?

And what is the portion of God from above

Or the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

Is it not disaster to the unjust

And misfortune to those who work iniquity?

Does He not see my ways

And number all my steps?

“If I have walked with worthlessness,

And my foot has hastened after deceit,

Let Him weigh me with just scales,

And let God know my integrity.

If my step has turned from the way,

Or my heart followed my eyes,

Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,

Let me sow and another eat,

And let my crops be uprooted.

“If my heart has been enticed by a woman,

Or I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s doorway,

May my wife grind for another,

And let others kneel down over her.

For that would be lewdness;

Moreover, it would be an iniquity punishable by judges.

For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon,

And would uproot all my produce.

“If I have rejected the justice of my male or female slaves

When they filed a complaint against me,

What then could I do when God arises?

And when He calls me to account, with what will I respond to Him?

Did not He who made me in the womb make him,

And the same one fashion us in the womb?

“If I have held back the poor from their desire,

Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Or have eaten my morsel alone,

And the orphan has not eaten from it

(But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,

And from the womb of my mother I guided her),

If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,

Or that the needy had no covering,

If his loins have not blessed me,

And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

If I have waved my hand against the orphan

Because I saw my help in the gate,

Let my shoulder fall from the socket,

And my arm be broken off at the elbow.

For disaster from God is a dread to me,

And because of His exaltedness I can do nothing.

“If I have put my confidence in gold,

And called fine gold my trust,

If I have been glad because my wealth was great,

And because my hand had found so much,

If I have looked at the sun when it shone

Or the moon going in splendor,

And my heart became secretly enticed,

And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment,

For I would have denied God above.

“If I have been glad at the upheaval of the one who hated me,

Or exulted when evil found him—

But I have not given over my mouth to sin

By asking for his life in a curse—

If the men of my tent have not said,

‘Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat’—

The sojourner has not lodged outside,

For I have opened my doors to the traveler—

If I have covered my transgressions like Adam,

By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

Because I feared the great multitude,

And the contempt of families terrified me,

And I kept silent and did not go out of doors—

Oh that I had one to hear me!

Behold, here is my signature;

Let the Almighty answer me!

And the indictment which my accuser has written,

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;

I would bind it to myself like a crown.

I would declare to Him the number of my steps;

Like a prince I would approach Him—

“If my land cries out against me,

And its furrows weep together,

If I have eaten its fruit without money,

Or have caused its owners to lose their lives,

Let briars come out instead of wheat,

And stinkweed instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.

Elihu Answers in Anger

Then these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned; against Job his anger burned because he was proving himself righteous before God. 3 And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 4 Now Elihu had waited with his words for Job because they were years older than he. 5 Then Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, so his anger burned.
6 So Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said,

“I am young in years and you are old;

Therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you my knowledge.

I thought age should speak,

And increased years should make wisdom known.

But it is a spirit in man,

And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

The abundant in years may not be wise,

Nor may elders understand justice.

So I say, ‘Listen to me,

I too will tell my knowledge.’

“Behold, I waited for your words,

I gave ear to your reasonings,

While you searched out what to say.

I even carefully considered you;

And behold, there was no one who reproved Job,

Not one of you who answered his words.

Lest you say,

‘We have found wisdom;

God will drive him away, not man.’

Now he has not arranged his words against me,

Nor will I respond to him with your words.

“They are dismayed; they no longer answer;

Words have moved away from them.

Shall I wait, because they do not speak,

Because they stand still and no longer answer?

I myself will also answer my share;

I also will tell my knowledge.

For I am full of words;

The spirit within my belly presses me.

Behold, my belly is like unvented wine, not opened;

Like new wineskins it is about to burst.

Let me speak that I may get relief;

Let me open my lips and answer.

Let me now be partial to no one,

Nor flatter any man.

For I do not know how to flatter,

Else my Maker would soon carry me away.