International Standard Version

New American Standard Bible 1995

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 those younger than I mock me, Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.

2Furthermore, what could I have gained from men whose strength is gone?

2"Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me? Vigor had perished from them.

3Unproductive due to poverty and hunger, they could only scratch in parched soil, devastated and desolated.

3"From want and famine they are gaunt Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,

4"They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat; and roots of the broom shrub for food.

4Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And whose food is the root of the broom shrub.

5Driven away from human company, they were shouted at as though they were thieves.

5"They are driven from the community; They shout against them as against a thief,

6They lived in the most dangerous of ravines, in holes in the ground, and among rocks.

6So that they dwell in dreadful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7They bray like donkeys among the bushes and huddle together under the desert weeds.

7"Among the bushes they cry out; Under the nettles they are gathered together.

8Sons of fools and of uncertain reputation, they have been driven from the land by scourging."

8"Fools, even those without a name, They were scourged from the land.

9"Now, I've become the object of their mocking melodies; I'm nothing but a fool's proverb to them!

9"And now I have become their taunt, I have even become a byword to them.

10They abhor me—they keep their distance from me; but they don't refrain from spitting at the sight of me.

10"They abhor me and stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from spitting at my face.

11But God has loosened his cord and afflicted me; so they've cast off all restraints in my presence.

11"Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, They have cast off the bridle before me.

12"A wretched crowd ambushes me to my right; they trip my feet; they build up their path of calamity for me.

12"On the right hand their brood arises; They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction.

13They tear up my pathways; they profit from my destruction, and they need no help to do this!

13"They break up my path, They profit from my destruction; No one restrains them.

14They come like those who breach through a wall; as everything crashes around me they'll roll on and on!

14"As through a wide breach they come, Amid the tempest they roll on.

15My greatest fears have overcome me; my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm; my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud."

15"Terrors are turned against me; They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

16"Now, my soul pours itself out; the time of my affliction has taken control of me.

16"And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have seized me.

17The night racks my bones; and the pain that gnaws on me will not rest.

17"At night it pierces my bones within me, And my gnawing pains take no rest.

18My clothes are disheveled by his forceful treatment of me; he restricts my movement like the collar of my cloak.

18"By a great force my garment is distorted; It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

19"He tossed me into the mire; I've become like dust and ashes.

19"He has cast me into the mire, 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.

20"I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.

21You changed toward me, and now you're cruel to me; with your mighty hand you are persecuting me;

21"You have become cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You persecute me.

22you carried me off in a wind storm, making me ride on it while you toss me about as the storm roars around me.

22"You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride; And You dissolve me in a 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."

23"For I know that You will bring me to death And to the house of meeting for all living.

24"Surely he won't stretch his hand against the needy, will he, especially if they cry to him in their calamity?

24"Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, Or in his disaster therefore cry out for help?

25Haven't I wept for the one who is going through hard times? Haven't I grieved for the needy?

25"Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came.

26"When I expected good, then evil came; When I waited for light, then darkness came.

27I'm boiling mad inside, and I won't remain silent; the time for my affliction to confront me has arrived.

27"I am seething within and cannot relax; Days of affliction confront me.

28"In growing darkness, I walked without sunlight; I stood in the congregation to cry for help.

28"I go about mourning without comfort; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

29I've become a brother to jackals, and a friend to ostriches.

29"I have become a brother to jackals And a companion of ostriches.

30My skin turns black all over me; and my bones seem burned from the heat.

30"My skin turns black on me, 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

31"Therefore my harp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the sound of those who weep.

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org