NIV, the Books of the Bible, The Writings by Biblica

Author:Biblica
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2017-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Job continued his discourse:

“How I long for the months gone by,

for the days when God watched over me,

when his lamp shone on my head

and by his light I walked through darkness!

Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,

when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,

when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me,

when my path was drenched with cream

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

“When I went to the gate of the city

and took my seat in the public square,

the young men saw me and stepped aside

and the old men rose to their feet;

the chief men refrained from speaking

and covered their mouths with their hands;

the voices of the nobles were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Whoever heard me spoke well of me,

and those who saw me commended me,

because I rescued the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to assist them.

The one who was dying blessed me;

I made the widow’s heart sing.

I put on righteousness as my clothing;

justice was my robe and my turban.

I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

I was a father to the needy;

I took up the case of the stranger.

I broke the fangs of the wicked

and snatched the victims from their teeth.

“I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,

my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

My roots will reach to the water,

and the dew will lie all night on my branches.

My glory will not fade;

the bow will be ever new in my hand.’

“People listened to me expectantly,

waiting in silence for my counsel.

After I had spoken, they spoke no more;

my words fell gently on their ears.

They waited for me as for showers

and drank in my words as the spring rain.

When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;

the light of my face was precious to them.

I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;

I dwelt as a king among his troops;

I was like one who comforts mourners.

“But now they mock me,

men younger than I,

whose fathers I would have disdained

to put with my sheep dogs.

Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,

since their vigor had gone from them?

Haggard from want and hunger,

they roamed the parched land

in desolate wastelands at night.

In the brush they gathered salt herbs,

and their food was the root of the broom bush.

They were banished from human society,

shouted at as if they were thieves.

They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,

among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

They brayed among the bushes

and huddled in the undergrowth.

A base and nameless brood,

they were driven out of the land.

“And now those young men mock me in song;

I have become a byword among them.

They detest me and keep their distance;

they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,

they throw off restraint in my presence.

On my right the tribe attacks;

they lay snares for my feet,

they build their siege ramps against me.

They break up my road;

they succeed in destroying me.

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