Job's final defense

Job 29:1 Then Job continued his speech:
29:2 “O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me,
29:3 when he caused his lamp to shine upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
29:4 just as I was in my most productive time, when God’s intimate friendship was experienced in my tent,
29:5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me;
29:6 when my steps were bathed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!
29:7 When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square,
29:8 the young men would see me and step aside, and the old men would get up and remain standing;
29:9 the chief men refrained from talking and covered their mouths with their hands;
29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths. Job’s Benevolence
29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things, it blessed me, and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,
29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;
29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice;
29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me, my just dealing was like a robe and a turban;
29:15 I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame;
29:16 I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;
29:17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, and made him drop his prey from his teeth. Job’s Confidence
29:18 “Then I thought, ‘I will die in my own home, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
29:19 My roots reach the water, and the dew lies on my branches all night long.
29:20 My glory will always be fresh in me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’ Job’s Reputation
29:21 “People listened to me and waited silently; they kept silent for my advice.
29:22 After I had spoken, they did not respond; my words fell on them drop by drop.
29:23 They waited for me as people wait for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rains.
29:24 If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it; and they did not cause the light of my face to darken.
29:25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners. Job’s Present Misery
30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger than I, whose fathers I disdained too much to put with my sheep dogs.
30:2 Moreover, the strength of their hands – what use was it to me? Men whose strength had perished;
30:3 gaunt with want and hunger, they would gnaw the parched land, in former time desolate and waste.
30:4 By the brush they would gather herbs from the salt marshes, and the root of the broom tree was their food.
30:5 They were banished from the community – people shouted at them like they would shout at thieves –
30:6 so that they had to live in the dry stream beds, in the holes of the ground, and among the rocks.
30:7 They brayed like animals among the bushes and were huddled together under the nettles.
30:8 Sons of senseless and nameless people, they were driven out of the land with whips. Job’s Indignities
30:9 “And now I have become their taunt song; I have become a byword among them.
30:10 They detest me and maintain their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
30:11 Because God has untied my tent cord and afflicted me, people throw off all restraint in my presence.
30:12 On my right the young rabble rise up; they drive me from place to place, and build up siege ramps against me.
30:13 They destroy my path; they succeed in destroying me without anyone assisting them.
30:14 They come in as through a wide breach; amid the crash they come rolling in.
30:15 Terrors are turned loose on me; they drive away my honor like the wind, and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away. Job’s Despondency
30:16 “And now my soul pours itself out within me; days of suffering take hold of me.
30:17 Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never cease.
30:18 With great power God grasps my clothing; he binds me like the collar of my tunic.
30:19 He has flung me into the mud, and I have come to resemble dust and ashes.
30:20 I cry out to you, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you only look at me.
30:21 You have become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you attack me.
30:22 You pick me up on the wind and make me ride on it; you toss me about in the storm.
30:23 I know that you are bringing me to death, to the meeting place for all the living.
30:24 “Surely one does not stretch out his hand against a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.
30:25 Have I not wept for the unfortunate? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
30:26 But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came.
30:27 My heart is in turmoil unceasingly; the days of my affliction confront me.
30:28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.
30:29 I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.
30:30 My skin has turned dark on me; my body is hot with fever.
30:31 My harp is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.
31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin?
31:2 What then would be one’s lot from God above, one’s heritage from the Almighty on high?
31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust, and disaster for those who work iniquity?
31:4 Does he not see my ways and count all my steps?
31:5 If I have walked in falsehood, and if my foot has hastened to deceit –
31:6 let him weigh me with honest scales; then God will discover my integrity.
31:7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way, if my heart has gone after my eyes, or if anything has defiled my hands,
31:8 then let me sow and let another eat, and let my crops be uprooted.
31:9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
31:10 then let my wife turn the millstone for another man, and may other men have sexual relations with her.
31:11 For I would have committed a shameful act, an iniquity to be judged.
31:12 For it is a fire that devours even to Destruction, and it would uproot all my harvest.
31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants or my female servants when they disputed with me,
31:14 then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; when he intervenes, how will I respond to him?
31:15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us in the womb?
31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
31:17 If I ate my morsel of bread myself, and did not share any of it with orphans –
31:18 but from my youth I raised the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow!
31:19 If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without a coat,
31:20 whose heart did not bless me as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep,
31:21 if I have raised my hand to vote against the orphan, when I saw my support in the court,
31:22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let my arm be broken off at the socket.
31:23 For the calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his majesty I was powerless.
31:24 “If I have put my confidence in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security!’
31:25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth, or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,
31:26 if I looked at the sun when it was shining, and the moon advancing as a precious thing,
31:27 so that my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand threw them a kiss from my mouth,
31:28 then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above.
31:29 If I have rejoiced over the misfortune of my enemy or exulted because calamity found him –
31:30 I have not even permitted my mouth to sin by asking for his life through a curse –
31:31 if the members of my household have never said, ‘If only there were someone who has not been satisfied from Job’s meat!’ –
31:32 But no stranger had to spend the night outside, for I opened my doors to the traveler –
31:33 if I have covered my transgressions as men do, by hiding iniquity in my heart,
31:34 because I was terrified of the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I remained silent and would not go outdoors – Job’s Appeal
31:35 “If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature – let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written.
31:36 Surely I would wear it proudly on my shoulder, I would bind it on me like a crown;
31:37 I would give him an accounting of my steps; like a prince I would approach him. Job’s Final Solemn Oath
31:38 “If my land cried out against me and all its furrows wept together,
31:39 if I have eaten its produce without paying, or caused the death of its owners,
31:40 then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat, and in place of barley, weeds!” The words of Job are ended. V. The Speeches of Elihu (32:1-37:24) Elihu’s First Speech

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.