Job 30
What Happens in This Chapter
Job keeps speaking. He says that men much younger than he is now laugh at him, even though their own families were the poorest outcasts. He describes his pain: his skin, his bones, his nights, and his crying to God who does not answer. The chapter ends with his music turned into the sound of weeping.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
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.
1But now younger men laugh at me. I would not have let their fathers work with my sheep dogs.
2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
2What good was their strength to me? They had no strength left at all.
3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
3They were thin from being poor and hungry. They wandered in dry, empty land at night.
4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
4They pulled up salty wild plants to eat. They dug up roots from bushes for food.
In 1611, "meat" meant food of any kind, not just meat from animals. These were wild desert plants that only the very poorest people ate.
5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
5People chased them away from the towns. They shouted at them like they were thieves.
6To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
6So they had to live on rocky hillsides. They slept in caves and holes in the ground.
7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
7They cried out among the bushes. They huddled together under stinging weeds.
8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
8They came from foolish families with no name. They were pushed off the land.
9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
9And now those men make up songs about me. They use my name as a joke.
10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
10They hate me and stay far away from me. They are not afraid to spit in my face.
11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
11God has taken away my strength and hurt me. So now they do whatever they want to me.
12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
12This rough crowd comes at me from the right side. They trip my feet and attack me.
13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
13They tear up the road in front of me. They help ruin me, and nobody stops them.
14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
14They rush at me like water through a broken wall. They roll over me through the wreckage.
15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
15Fears come at me from every side. My honor blows away like wind. My good life drifts off like a cloud.
16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
16Now my life is pouring out of me. Days of pain hold me tight.
17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
17At night the pain stabs deep in my bones. The aching never stops to rest.
18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
18My sickness pulls hard at my clothing. It grips me tight around my neck.
19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
19God has thrown me down into the mud. Now I am like dust and ashes.
20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
20I call to you, God, but you do not answer. I stand up, and you only look at me.
21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
21You have turned hard against me. You push me away with your strong hand.
22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
22You lift me up into the wind. You make me ride on it and toss me in the storm.
23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
23I know you will bring me down to death. That is the home waiting for every living thing.
24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
24But no one reaches out to help a broken man. He cries for help, and nobody comes.
25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
25Didn't I cry for people who were in trouble? Wasn't I sad for people who were poor?
26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
26I hoped for good things, but bad things came. I waited for light, and darkness came instead.
27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
27Inside I am churning and cannot rest. Days of pain have come to meet me.
"Prevented" in 1611 English meant "came before" or "came to meet." It did not mean "stopped."
28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
28My skin is dark, but not from the sun. I stand up in the crowd and call for help.
29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
29I have become a brother to wild dogs. I am a friend to birds of the empty desert.
The old word "dragons" here means jackals, which are wild desert dogs. The old word "owls" means ostriches, big desert birds. Both are animals that live in empty places and make lonely, crying sounds.
30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
30My skin has turned black and is peeling off. My bones burn with fever.
31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
31My harp now plays only sad songs. My flute makes the sound of people crying.
"Organ" in 1611 meant a simple wind instrument, like a flute or pipe. It was not the large organ in a church.
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