Job’s Summary Defense
1 And Job again ztook up his discourse, and said:
2 “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his alamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
4 as I was in my prime,1
when the bfriendship of God was upon my tent,
5 when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my cchildren were all around me,
6 when my steps were dwashed with ebutter,
and fthe rock poured out for me streams of goil!
7 When I went out to hthe gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
9 the princes refrained from talking
and ilaid their hand on their mouth;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their jtongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I kdelivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 lThe blessing of him who was mabout to perish came upon me,
and I caused nthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I oput on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and pa turban.
15 I was qeyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out rthe cause of him whom I did not know.
17 I sbroke tthe fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18 uThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my vnest,
and I shall multiply my days as wthe sand,
19 my xroots spread out to ythe waters,
with the dew all night on my zbranches,
20 my glory fresh with me,
21 “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word cdropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and they dopened their mouths as for the espring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and fthe light of my gface they did not cast down.
25 I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like ha king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
1 “But now they ilaugh at me,
men who are jyounger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
3 Through want and hard hunger
they mgnaw nthe dry ground by night in owaste and desolation;
4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food.1
5 pThey are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of qthe rocks.
7 Among the bushes they rbray;
under sthe nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9 “And now I have become their tsong;
I am ua byword to them.
10 They vabhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to wspit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint2 in my presence.
12 On my xright hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they ycast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path;
they promote my zcalamity;
they need no one to help them.
14 As through a wide abreach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15 bTerrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like ca cloud.
16 “And now my soul is dpoured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 eThe night fracks my bones,
and the pain that ggnaws me takes no rest.
18 With great force my garment is hdisfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19 God3 has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like idust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
21 You have jturned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you kpersecute me.
22 lYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23 mFor I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for nall living.
24 “Yet does not one in a oheap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help?4
25 Did not I pweep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But qwhen I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, rdarkness came.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction scome to meet me.
28 I tgo about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in uthe assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother of vjackals
and a companion of wostriches.
30 My xskin turns black and falls from me,
and my ybones burn with heat.
31 My zlyre is aturned to mourning,
and my zpipe to the voice of those who weep.
