International Standard Version | Berean Study Bible |
1"But now they mock me; men who are far younger than I, whose fathers I would have hated to entrust with my own sheep dogs. | 1“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs. |
2Furthermore, what could I have gained from men whose strength is gone? | 2What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them? |
3Unproductive due to poverty and hunger, they could only scratch in parched soil, devastated and desolated. | 3Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night. |
4"They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat; and roots of the broom shrub for food. | 4They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food. |
5Driven away from human company, they were shouted at as though they were thieves. | 5They were banished from among men, shouted down like thieves, |
6They lived in the most dangerous of ravines, in holes in the ground, and among rocks. | 6so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. |
7They bray like donkeys among the bushes and huddle together under the desert weeds. | 7They cried out among the shrubs and huddled beneath the nettles. |
8Sons of fools and of uncertain reputation, they have been driven from the land by scourging." | 8A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land. |
9"Now, I've become the object of their mocking melodies; I'm nothing but a fool's proverb to them! | 9And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. |
10They abhor me—they keep their distance from me; but they don't refrain from spitting at the sight of me. | 10They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. |
11But God has loosened his cord and afflicted me; so they've cast off all restraints in my presence. | 11Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence. |
12"A wretched crowd ambushes me to my right; they trip my feet; they build up their path of calamity for me. | 12The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me. |
13They tear up my pathways; they profit from my destruction, and they need no help to do this! | 13They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them. |
14They come like those who breach through a wall; as everything crashes around me they'll roll on and on! | 14They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in. |
15My greatest fears have overcome me; my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm; my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud." | 15Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud. |
16"Now, my soul pours itself out; the time of my affliction has taken control of me. | 16And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me. |
17The night racks my bones; and the pain that gnaws on me will not rest. | 17Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest. |
18My clothes are disheveled by his forceful treatment of me; he restricts my movement like the collar of my cloak. | 18With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic. |
19"He tossed me into the mire; I've become like dust and ashes. | 19He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes. |
20I cry for help to you, but you won't answer me; I stand still, but you only look at me. | 20I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me. |
21You changed toward me, and now you're cruel to me; with your mighty hand you are persecuting me; | 21You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand. |
22you carried me off in a wind storm, making me ride on it while you toss me about as the storm roars around me. | 22You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm. |
23I know that you're about to kill me, so I'm about to go to the house that's appointed for all the living." | 23Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living. |
24"Surely he won't stretch his hand against the needy, will he, especially if they cry to him in their calamity? | 24Yet no one stretches out his hand to a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress. |
25Haven't I wept for the one who is going through hard times? Haven't I grieved for the needy? | 25Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy? |
26I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came. | 26But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell. |
27I'm boiling mad inside, and I won't remain silent; the time for my affliction to confront me has arrived. | 27I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me. |
28"In growing darkness, I walked without sunlight; I stood in the congregation to cry for help. | 28I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. |
29I've become a brother to jackals, and a friend to ostriches. | 29I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches. |
30My skin turns black all over me; and my bones seem burned from the heat. | 30My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever. |
31But my harp is in mourning; my flute plays only songs for those who are weeping." Job Asserts His Moral Innocence | 31My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. |
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