Job’s Honor Turned to Contempt 1 UDB "But now, men who are younger than I am make fun of me— men whose fathers I greatly despised— their fathers, whom I would not even have allowed to help my dogs guard my sheep. BSB BSB: “But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.
2 UDB They were men who were old and weak; what could I gain from having these men work for me, even when they thought they were strong? BSB BSB: What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them?
3 UDB They were very poor and hungry, so that they chewed on roots at night in dry and desolate places. BSB BSB: Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
4 UDB They pulled up plants in the desert and ate them; they warmed themselves by burning the roots of broom trees. BSB BSB: They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
5 UDB Everyone shouted at them, "Stop, thief!" and drove them from their area. BSB BSB: They were banished from among men, shouted at like thieves,
6 UDB They were forced to live in riverbeds, in holes in the ground, and in the sides of cliffs. BSB BSB: so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 UDB In the bushes they howled like animals because they were hungry, and they huddled together under thornbushes. BSB BSB: They cried out among the shrubs and huddled beneath the nettles.
8 UDB They were people without good sense, whose names no one knows; they were driven out from the land where they were born. BSB BSB: A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.
9 UDB Now their children sing songs to make fun of me. They tell jokes about me. BSB BSB: And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
10 UDB They are disgusted with me, and they stay away from me, but when they see me, they are happy to spit in my face. BSB BSB: They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 UDB It seems as though God had cut my bowstring and caused me to be unable to defend myself; he has humbled me, and my enemies have done to me whatever they wanted. BSB BSB: Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12 UDB Gangs of these people attack me and force me to run away; they prepare to destroy me. BSB BSB: The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.
13 UDB They prevent me from escaping, and there is no one to keep them from attacking me. BSB BSB: They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.
14 UDB It is as though I were a city wall and they had broken through it, as though they had come crashing down on me. BSB BSB: They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
Job’s Prosperity Becomes Calamity 15 UDB I am very terrified; my dignity has been blown away by the wind, and my prosperity has disappeared as clouds disappear. BSB BSB: Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
16 UDB Now I am about to die; I suffer every day. BSB BSB: And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.
17 UDB My bones ache during the nights, and the pain that torments me never stops. BSB BSB: Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.
18 UDB It is as though God had grabbed my clothes and choked me by the collar of my coat. BSB BSB: With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.
19 UDB He has thrown me into the mud; I am not worth anything more than dust and ashes. BSB BSB: He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 UDB I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer me; I stand up and pray, but you do not pay any attention. BSB BSB: I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.
21 UDB You act very cruelly toward me; with all of your power you cause me to suffer. BSB BSB: You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.
22 UDB You allow the wind to lift me up and blow me away; and you make a violent storm blow me around. BSB BSB: You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.
23 UDB I know that you will cause me to die, which is what happens to everyone who is alive. BSB BSB: Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
24 UDB When people experience disasters, they sit on a pile of ruins and cry out for help; they certainly cry out for help. BSB BSB: Yet no one stretches out his hand against a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.
25 UDB I myself wept for people who were experiencing troubles, and I felt sorry for poor people. BSB BSB: Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
26 UDB However, when I expected good things to happen to me, evil things happened; when I waited for light, I experienced darkness instead. BSB BSB: But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
27 UDB I am very distressed all the time; I suffer every day. BSB BSB: I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.
28 UDB I go about very discouraged; I stand up and plead for people to help me. BSB BSB: I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 UDB My wailing is as sad as jackals and ostriches in the wilderness. BSB BSB: I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
30 UDB My skin has become dark and is peeling off, and I have a fever which causes my body to feel as though it were burning up with a fever. BSB BSB: My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
31 UDB Previously, I played joyful music on my harp and with my flute, but now I play only the sad music of those who mourn." BSB BSB: My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.