Daily Text and Bible Reading: Saturday, June 15 [Press play below]

30.1 “Now they laugh at me —Men younger than I am, Whose fathers I would have refused To put with the dogs that guarded my flock.
30.2 Of what use was the power of their hands to me? Their vigor has perished.
30.3 They are worn out from want and hunger; They gnaw at the parched ground That was already ruined and desolated.
30.4 They gather the salt herb from the bushes; Their food is the root of broom trees.
30.5 They are driven out of the community; People shout at them as they would at a thief.
30.6 They live on the slopes of ravines, In holes in the ground and in the rocks.
30.7 From the bushes they cry out And huddle together among the nettles.
30.8 As sons of the senseless and the nameless ones, They have been driven out of the land.
30.9 But now they mock me even in their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them.
30.10 They detest me and keep their distance from me; They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
30.11 Because God has disarmed me and humbled me, They throw off all restraint in my presence.
30.12 On my right they rise up like a mob; They put me to flight And put up barriers of destruction in my path.
30.13 They tear up my roadways And make my calamity worse, Without anyone to stop them.
30.14 They come as if through a wide breach in the wall; They roll in amid the devastation.
30.15 Terror overwhelms me; My dignity is driven away like the wind, And my salvation vanishes like a cloud.
30.16 Now my life ebbs from me; Days of affliction take hold of me.
30.17 Aching pierces my bones at night; The gnawing pain never stops.
30.18 With great force my garment is disfigured; Like the collar of my garment, it chokes me.
30.19 God has thrown me down into the mud; I am reduced to dust and ashes.
30.20 I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me; I stand up, but you just look at me.
30.21 You have cruelly turned against me; With the full might of your hand, you assault me.
30.22 You pick me up and carry me off with the wind; Then you toss me about in the storm.
30.23 For I know that you will bring me down to death, To the house where everyone living will meet.
30.24 But no one would strike at a broken man As he cries for help during his time of disaster.
30.25 Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times? Have I not grieved for the poor?
30.26 Although I hoped for good, bad came; I expected the light, but darkness came.
30.27 The churning inside me did not stop; Days of affliction confronted me.
30.28 I walk about gloomy; there is no sunlight. In the assembly, I rise and cry for help.
30.29 I have become a brother to jackals And a companion to the daughters of the ostrich.
30.30 My skin has blackened and fallen off; My bones burn from the heat.
30.31 My harp is used only for mourning, And my flute for the sound of weeping.
31.1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes. So how could I show improper attention to a virgin?
31.2 What, then, would be my share from God above, What inheritance from the Almighty on high?
31.3 Does not disaster await the wrongdoer And calamity those doing what is harmful?
31.4 Does he not see my ways And count all my steps?
31.5 Have I ever walked in untruth? Has my foot hurried to deceive?
31.6 Let God weigh me with accurate scales; Then he will recognize my integrity.
31.7 If my footsteps deviate from the way Or my heart has followed after my eyes Or my hands have been defiled,
31.8 Then let me sow seed and someone else eat, And let what I plant 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 grind grain for another man, And let other men have sexual relations with her.
31.11 For that would be shameful conduct, An error deserving punishment by the judges.
31.12 It would be a fire that would devour and destroy, Consuming even the roots of all my produce.
31.13 If I denied justice to my male or female servants When they had a complaint against me,
31.14 What can I do when God confronts me? What can I answer him when he calls for an accounting?
31.15 Did not the One who made me in the womb also make them? Was it not the same One who formed us before our birth?
31.16 If I refused to give the poor what they desired Or saddened the eyes of the widow;
31.17 If I ate my portion of food alone Without sharing it with the orphans;
31.18 (For from my youth the orphan grew up with me as though I were his father, And I have been a guide for the widow from childhood.)
31.19 If I saw anyone perishing for lack of clothing Or a poor man with nothing to cover himself;
31.20 If he did not bless me As he warmed himself with the wool of my sheep;
31.21 If I shook my fist against the orphan When he needed my assistance in the city gate;
31.22 Then let my arm fall from my shoulder, And let my arm be broken at the elbow.
31.23 For I dreaded disaster from God, And I could not stand before his dignity.
31.24 If I put my confidence in gold Or said to fine gold, ‘You are my security!’
31.25 If I found my joy in my great wealth Because of the many possessions I acquired;
31.26 If I saw the sun shining Or the moon moving in its splendor;
31.27 And my heart was secretly enticed, And my mouth kissed my hand in worship of them;
31.28 Then that would be an error deserving punishment by the judges, For I would have denied the true God above.
31.29 Have I ever rejoiced over the destruction of my enemy Or gloated because evil befell him?
31.30 I never allowed my mouth to sin By asking for his life in an oath.
31.31 Have the men of my tent not said, ‘Who can find anyone who has not been satisfied with his food?’
31.32 No stranger had to spend the night outside; I opened my doors to the traveler.
31.33 Have I ever tried to cover over my transgressions, like other men, By hiding my error in the pocket of my garment?
31.34 Have I been in fear of the reaction of the multitude, Or have I been terrified by the contempt of other families, Making me silent and afraid to go outside?
31.35 If only someone would listen to me! I would sign my name to what I have said. Let the Almighty answer me! If only my accuser had written out the charges in a document!
31.36 I would carry it on my shoulder, And I would bind it around my head like a crown.
31.37 I would give him an accounting for every step I took; I would approach him confidently, like a prince.
31.38 If my own ground would cry out against me And its furrows would weep together;
31.39 If I have eaten its fruitage without payment, Or if I have caused its owners to despair;
31.40 Then let thorns sprout for me instead of wheat And foul-smelling weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job end here.