Mocked by the Lowest Outcasts
Study note
The contrast with chapter 29 is stark. Now the sons of outcasts -- people Job would not have trusted to tend his sheep -- mock him and make up songs about him. They spit in his face. They push him around like a mob. God has loosened Job's tent cord and brought him low, so these worthless people feel free to attack him. Terrors chase Job like the wind.
1 'But now, people younger than me make fun of me. Their fathers were so useless I wouldn't have let them hang around my sheepdogs.' But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
2 'What good was the work of their hands to me? Their strength was already used up.' Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
3 'Starving and wasting away, they scraped at the dry ground in the dark wasteland for anything to eat.' For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4 'They ripped wild plants from the bushes and chewed on broom tree roots for food.' Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
5 'They were thrown out of normal society. People yelled at them the way you yell at a thief.' They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
6 'They had to camp in dried-up streambeds, in holes in the ground, and between the rocks.' To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7 'They wailed among the bushes. They crouched together under thorn plants for shelter.' Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
8 'They were worthless nobodies without even a name, kicked right out of the land.' They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9 'And now these same people have made me the target of their mocking songs! I have become their joke.' And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
10 'They are disgusted by me and stay far away. Yet they do not hold back from spitting right in my face.' They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 'Since God pulled my tent rope loose and brought me low, these people have thrown off any restraint around me.' Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12 'A mob of troublemakers rises up against me. They push me out of the way and prepare their attack.' Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13 'They tear up my path. They do everything they can to destroy me, and nobody stops them.' They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
14 'They pour through the opening like a flood rushing through a broken wall. They roll right over me in the middle of the wreckage.' They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
15 'Terrors have been turned loose on me. My honor has been swept away by the wind. My safety has faded like a passing cloud.' Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
God Does Not Answer
Study note
Job's soul is poured out. Pain pierces his bones at night. His disease binds him like a collar. God has thrown him into the mud. Job cries out to God, but God does not answer. He stands up to plead, but God just stares. God has become cruel to him, tossing him around like a storm. Job knows God is bringing him to death.
16 'Now my life is draining right out of me. Day after day, suffering has its grip on me.' And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 'At night, the pain bores right into my bones. The gnawing ache inside me never takes a break.' My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
18 'With brutal force, this disease has ruined my clothes. It wraps around my neck and chokes me like a tight collar.' By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 'God has thrown me face-first into the mud. I have been ground down to nothing but dust and ashes.' He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20 'God, I cry out to you, but you do not answer. I stand before you, but you barely glance my way.' I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
21 'You have turned cold and cruel toward me. You use your mighty hand to push against me.' Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22 'You scoop me up and fling me into the wind. You toss me around in the storm like I weigh nothing.' Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
23 'I know exactly where you are taking me — straight to death. That is where every living person ends up.' For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
I Expected Good, but Evil Came
Study note
Job weeps for those in trouble and grieves for the poor. But when he looked for good, evil came instead. When he waited for light, darkness came. His insides are in turmoil. He walks around in mourning. His skin turns dark and peels off. His bones burn with fever. His harp is tuned to mourning, and his flute plays only the sound of weeping.
24 'Surely no one would kick someone already lying in a pile of rubble. No one would refuse to help when they hear a cry from the wreckage.' Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
25 'Did I not cry for people who were going through hard times? Did my heart not ache for those who had nothing?' Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 'I kept hoping good things would come, but bad things appeared instead. I kept looking for light, but all I got was more darkness.' When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 'My stomach is churning nonstop. One painful day after another keeps smacking me in the face.' My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
28 'I walk around looking dark and gloomy, but it is not because of a sunburn. I stand up and cry for help in front of everyone.' I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29 'I have become like a brother to the jackals and a companion to the owls.' I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30 'My skin has turned dark and is peeling off my body. My bones are burning up with fever.' My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 'My harp only plays sad music now, and the only sound my flute makes is the sound of weeping.' My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.