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30‘But now they make sport of me,
   those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
   to set with the dogs of my flock.
² What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
   All their vigour is gone.
³ Through want and hard hunger
   they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
⁴ they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,
   and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
⁵ They are driven out from society;
   people shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of wadis they must live,
   in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they bray;
   under the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, disreputable brood,
   they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ ‘And now they mock me in song;
   I am a byword to them.
¹⁰ They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;
   they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
¹¹ Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
   they have cast off restraint in my presence.
¹² On my right hand the rabble rise up;
   they send me sprawling,
   and build roads for my ruin.
¹³ They break up my path,
   they promote my calamity;
   no one restrains^* them.
¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come;
   amid the crash they roll on.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
   my honour is pursued as by the wind,
   and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶ ‘And now my soul is poured out within me;
   days of affliction have taken hold of me.
¹⁷ The night racks my bones,
   and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With violence he seizes my garment;^*
   he grasps me by^* the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ He has cast me into the mire,
   and I have become like dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you and you do not answer me;
   I stand, and you merely look at me.
²¹ You have turned cruel to me;
   with the might of your hand you persecute me.
²² You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
   and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
²³ I know that you will bring me to death,
   and to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴ ‘Surely one does not turn against the needy,^*
   when in disaster they cry for help.^*
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
   Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
²⁶ But when I looked for good, evil came;
   and when I waited for light, darkness came.
²⁷ My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still;
   days of affliction come to meet me.
²⁸ I go about in sunless gloom;
   I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
²⁹ I am a brother of jackals,
   and a companion of ostriches.
³⁰ My skin turns black and falls from me,
   and my bones burn with heat.
³¹ My lyre is turned to mourning,
   and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

31‘I have made a covenant with my eyes;
   how then could I look upon a virgin?
² What would be my portion from God above,
   and my heritage from the Almighty^* on high?
³ Does not calamity befall the unrighteous,
   and disaster the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does he not see my ways,
   and number all my steps?

⁵ ‘If I have walked with falsehood,
   and my foot has hurried to deceit—
⁶ let me be weighed in a just balance,
   and let God know my integrity!—
⁷ if my step has turned aside from the way,
   and my heart has followed my eyes,
   and if any spot has clung to my hands;
⁸ then let me sow, and another eat;
   and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹ ‘If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
   and I have lain in wait at my neighbour’s door;
¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another,
   and let other men kneel over her.
¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime;
   that would be a criminal offence;
¹² for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
   and it would burn to the root all my harvest.

¹³ ‘If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
   when they brought a complaint against me;
¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up?
   When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
   And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ ‘If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
   or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone,
   and the orphan has not eaten from it—
¹⁸ for from my youth I reared the orphan^* like a father,
   and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^*—
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
   or a poor person without covering,
²⁰ whose loins have not blessed me,
   and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
²¹ if I have raised my hand against the orphan,
   because I saw I had supporters at the gate;
²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
   and let my arm be broken from its socket.
²³ For I was in terror of calamity from God,
   and I could not have faced his majesty.

²⁴ ‘If I have made gold my trust,
   or called fine gold my confidence;
²⁵ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
   or because my hand had acquired much;
²⁶ if I have looked at the sun^* when it shone,
   or the moon moving in splendour,
²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed,
   and my mouth has kissed my hand;
²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
   for I should have been false to God above.

²⁹ ‘If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me,
   or exulted when evil overtook them—
³⁰ I have not let my mouth sin
   by asking for their lives with a curse—
³¹ if those of my tent ever said,
   “O that we might be sated with his flesh!”^*—
³² the stranger has not lodged in the street;
   I have opened my doors to the traveller—
³³ if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,^*
   by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
³⁴ because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
   and the contempt of families terrified me,
   so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
³⁵ O that I had one to hear me!
   (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty^* answer me!)
   O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
   I would bind it on me like a crown;
³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps;
   like a prince I would approach him.

³⁸ ‘If my land has cried out against me,
   and its furrows have wept together;
³⁹ if I have eaten its yield without payment,
   and caused the death of its owners;
⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of wheat,
   and foul weeds instead of barley.’

The words of Job are ended.