Job 30

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

³⁵The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”

¹⁵But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.

¹⁶Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹²Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of drunkards.

²³From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet.

⁹The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

⁵Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.

³⁸The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

¹³Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.

¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁶He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.

¹⁴“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.

³⁸When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”

³⁹One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.

²⁵You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.

¹⁰May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.

³²You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”

³³At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

¹²When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

¹³But Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

¹So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.

²And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

²and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

¹⁹Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

⁵Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?

¹²But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!

²²Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessor, but the discipline of fools is folly.

⁶For a fool speaks foolishness; his mind plots iniquity. He practices ungodliness and speaks falsely about the Lord; he leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.

²⁴Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.”

²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

¹⁸The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

⁶He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.

⁶³When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.

¹⁴I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

¹⁵But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.

¹⁶Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹¹I made sackcloth my clothing, and I was sport to them.

¹²Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of drunkards.

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

⁶I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

⁶⁷Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him

⁸You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.

¹⁴But the Lord answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”

⁹his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and declare, “This is what is done to the man who will not maintain his brother’s line.”

³⁰Then they spit on Him and took the staff and struck Him on the head repeatedly.

²¹He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

¹⁸He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.

²¹I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.”

²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

⁹Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.

⁵As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses.

⁶He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left.

¹²His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

¹⁸Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.

⁴Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Keep me safe from men of violence who scheme to make me stumble.

⁵The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah

⁵The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.

¹⁵but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’

¹²Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.

²⁶For they persecute the one You struck and recount the pain of those You wounded.

¹⁴Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.

⁷the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.

⁸It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel!

⁴The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.

³Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

²³For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

¹⁵From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

⁴My heart pounds within me, and the terrors of death assail me.

⁵Fear and trembling grip me, and horror has overwhelmed me.

²²I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

⁴These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the festive procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.

¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.

¹²Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.

¹²For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.

¹⁵“No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.

⁴When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

¹³I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.

²I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.

²Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am frail; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are in agony.

³My soul is deeply distressed. How long, O Lord, how long?

¹⁹A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones,

²⁰so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.

²For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.

³There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

²⁰My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.

⁵Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.

⁶From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

⁵My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly.

³¹then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.

⁶Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

¹⁴Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.

²⁷Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck.

²I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

⁷Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

⁴O Lord God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?

⁵You fed them with the bread of tears and made them drink the full measure of their tears.

²I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.

²³But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

⁹Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?

⁹His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.

¹⁰They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

¹⁴If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.

⁶then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.

⁷Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

³Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?

⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?

²¹Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

²¹The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

⁴Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.

²When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.

¹⁰He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.

¹⁹The whirlwind has wrapped them in its wings, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

¹⁷For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.

⁵when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners walk the streets.

⁶Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the well,

²⁷Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

⁸As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁵Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,

³³The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.

³⁹And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads

⁴⁰and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

²⁵Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”

³¹So may all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.

⁷Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

¹³Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.

¹⁴I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.

¹⁷But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

⁴¹As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it

⁷Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

⁵He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.

¹⁵We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

¹⁹Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.

²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.

²⁶I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”

¹¹Light shines on the righteous, gladness on the upright in heart.

¹²For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord; let him lean on his God.

¹¹My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

²⁰Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.

²⁰See, O Lord, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.

⁴In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them.

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.

⁹I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

²For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

⁶I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.

⁷Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

¹I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.

²He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.

³He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

⁴Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁸Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.

⁶I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

³but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

¹⁴and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

¹⁹But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.

¹⁴I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”

⁸But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.

³For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.

⁸³Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.

⁴He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.

¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

¹⁵Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

⁴My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.

¹²On that day the Lord God of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.

⁷The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.

⁸The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.

⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

¹By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

²There on the willows we hung our harps,