30:5. Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
30:6. They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
30:7. They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
30:8. The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
30:9. Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
30:10. They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
30:11. For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
30:12. At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.
30:13. They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
30:14. They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
30:15. I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
30:16. And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
30:17. In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
30:18. With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.
30:19. I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
30:20. I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
30:21. Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
30:22. Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
30:23. I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
30:24. But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
30:25. I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
30:26. I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
30:27. My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
30:28. I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
30:29. I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
Brother of dragons, etc... Imitating these creatures in their lamentable noise.
30:30. My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
30:31. My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
Job Chapter 31
Job, to defend himself from the unjust judgments of his friends, gives a sincere account of his own virtues.
31:1. I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin.
31:2. For what part should God from above have in me, and what inheritance the Almighty from on high?
31:3. Is not destruction to the wicked, and aversion to them that work iniquity?
31:4. Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps?
31:5. If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hath made haste to deceit:
31:6. Let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.
31:7. If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:
31:8. Then let me sow and let another reap: and let my offspring be rooted out.
31:9. If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend's door:
31:10. Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her.
31:11. For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity.
31:12. It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring.
31:13. If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me:
31:14. For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him?
31:15. Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb?
31:16. If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait:
31:17. If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:
31:18. (For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother's womb:)
31:19. If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:
31:20. If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep: