29 Then Iyyov continued speaking:

2 How I wish for my life in the months of the past,

≈in the days when God watched over me.

3 When his lamp shone over my head.

≈When I walked in the darkness by his light.

4 I was still in my prime in those days,

when God’s friendship could be noticed in my home.

5 When the provider was still with me.

≈When my children were all around me.

6 When my path was greased with butter,

≈and the rock poured streams of olive oil out for me.

7 When I went to the gathering of the city elders at the city gate.

≈When I took my seat in the public square.

8 Young men saw me and got out of the way,

≈and the old people got up and remained standing.

9 The leaders would stop their conversations,

and put their hands over their mouths.

10 The voices of the nobles were hushed,

≈and their tongues stayed on the roofs of their mouths.

11 Those who listened to me commended me,

≈and those who saw me approved of me,

12 because I rescued the poor who cried out,

≈and the fatherless who had no one to help them.

13 Those who were close to dying gave me their blessing,

≈and widows were very pleased that I’d helped them.

14 I put on obedience like a cloak.

≈My justice was like a robe and a turban.

15 I was the eyes for the blind,

≈and the feet for the lame.

16 I was a father for the needy,

≈and I helped strangers present their cases.

17 I broke the jaws[fn] of unjust people,

so they had to drop their prey from their teeth.

18 I had thought that I would die in my own home,

having multiplied my days like the sand.

19 My roots are spread out to reach water,

≈and the dew will lie on my branches overnight.

20 People were always honouring me,

and the bow in my hand will always seem new.

21 They listened to me and they waited,

≈and they kept silent ready to hear my advice.

22 After my talk, they still didn’t speak,

because my words slowly sunk into them like the dew.

23 They waited for me like a farmer waits for rain,

≈and they opened their mouths wide like soil expecting the wet weather.

24 I smiled at them even when they didn’t believe me,

and they didn’t cause the delight on my face to falter.

25 I chose their path and I sat as a chief,

and I lived like a king with his troops,

like when someone comforts those who’re mourning.

30 But now those who’re younger than me laugh at me—

those whose fathers I would have refused to have join my sheepdogs!

2 What use was the strength of their arms to me?

Their contentment with life has gone.

3 They’re useless due to poverty and hunger.

Gnawing at the dry land that’s devastated and uninhabited.

4 They pick mallow leaves off the wild bushes,

≈and roots of broom trees have become their food.

5 They’re driven away from the community,

and people shout at them as if they’re thieves,

6 They live out in the river valleys—

in holes in the ground and caves in the cliffs.

7 They bray like animals out between the shrubs.

≈They’re huddled together under the thorn bushes.

8 They’re the children of fools, without any name to them.

They’ve been driven out of the land.

9 But now I’m mocked in their songs,

and my name has been made into a joke by them.

10 They despise me and keep their distance,

yet don’t hesitate to spit in my face.

11 God has unstrung my bow and humbled me,

so they don’t restrain themselves in my presence.

12 A rabble appears on one side and push my feet away.

≈They pile up their destructive paths against me.

13 They’ve torn down my path.

They benefit from my destruction—

there’s no helper for them.

14 They come quickly like through a wide breach in the wall.

They have rolled themselves under the devastation.

15 Terrors have been turned against me.

They pursue my honour like the wind,

≈and my prosperity has disappeared like cloud.

16 Now my life pours itself out within me.

≈Days of suffering have taken hold of me.

17 Night pierces my bones from upon me,

≈and the pains that gnaw at me never rest.

18 My clothing is transformed through great strength.

≈My garment ties me up by the collar.

19 He throws me into the mud,

≈and I’ve become like dust and ashes.

20 I call out to you for help

but you don’t answer me.

I’ve stood here and you just look at me.

21 You’ve changed yourself to become cruel to me.

≈You use your strength to persecute me.

22 You hold me up to the wind and let it take me.

≈You toss me around in the storm.

23 I know you are bringing me towards death,

≈and to the final appointment that everyone has.

24 Doesn’t someone who’s collapsed into a heap stretch out their hand.

≈In a disaster they cry out for help.

25 Didn’t I weep for those having a troubled day?

≈I was upset when I saw the poor.

26 I waited for good, but it was evil that came.

≈I waited for light, but it was gloom that came.

27 My insides feel like they’re boiling—

they never feel settled,

and my suffering confronts me every day.

28 I go around being dark, but not from the sun.

I’ve stood in the assembly and called out for help.

29 I’ve become a brother to jackals,

≈and a companion of young ostriches.

30 My skin has turned black,

≈and my bones are burning with fever.

31 So my harp is used for mourning.

≈My flute accompanies those who’re weeping.