30:1 但如今，比我年少的人戲笑我；其人之父我曾藐視，不肯安在看守我羊群的狗中。
30:2 他們壯年的氣力既已衰敗，其手之力與我何益呢？
30:3 他們因窮乏飢餓，身體枯瘦，在荒廢淒涼的幽暗中，齦乾燥之地，
30:4 在草叢之中採鹹草，羅騰（小樹名，松類）的根為他們的食物。
30:5 他們從人中被趕出；人追喊他們如賊一般，
30:6 以致他們住在荒谷之間，在地洞和巖穴中；
30:7 在草叢中叫喚，在荊棘下聚集。
30:8 這都是愚頑下賤人的兒女；他們被鞭打，趕出境外。
30:9 現在這些人以我為歌曲，以我為笑談。
30:10 他們厭惡我，躲在旁邊站著，不住地吐唾沫在我臉上。
30:11 鬆開他們的繩索苦待我，在我面前脫去轡頭。
30:12 這等下流人在我右邊起來，推開我的腳，築成戰路來攻擊我。
30:13 這些無人幫助的，毀壞我的道，加增我的災。
30:14 他們來如同闖進大破口，在毀壞之間滾在我身上。
30:15 驚恐臨到我，驅逐我的尊榮如風；我的福祿如雲過去。
30:16 現在我心極其悲傷；困苦的日子將我抓住。
30:17 夜間，我裡面的骨頭刺我，疼痛不止，好像齦我。
30:18 因上帝的大力，我的外衣污穢不堪，又如裡衣的領子將我纏住。
30:19 上帝把我扔在淤泥中，我就像塵土和爐灰一般。
30:20 主啊，我呼求你，你不應允我；我站起來，你就定睛看我。
30:21 你向我變心，待我殘忍，又用大能追逼我，
30:22 把我提在風中，使我駕風而行，又使我消滅在烈風中。
30:23 我知道要使我臨到死地，到那為眾生所定的陰宅。
30:24 然而，人仆倒豈不伸手？遇災難豈不求救呢？
30:25 人遭難，我豈不為他哭泣呢？人窮乏，我豈不為他憂愁呢？
30:26 我仰望得好處，災禍就到了；我等待光明，黑暗便來了。
30:27 我心裡煩擾不安，困苦的日子臨到我身。
30:28 我沒有日光就哀哭行去（或譯：我面發黑並非因日曬）；我在會中站著求救。
30:29 我與野狗為弟兄，與鴕鳥為同伴。
30:30 我的皮膚黑而脫落；我的骨頭因熱燒焦。
30:31 所以，我的琴音變為悲音；我的簫聲變為哭聲。
“But
now they mock me,
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed[a] the parched
land
in desolate wastelands at night.
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,
and their food[b] was the
root of the broom bush.
5 They were banished from human society,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 They brayed among the bushes
and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 A base and nameless brood,
they were driven out of the land.
9 “And
now those young men mock me in song;
I have become a byword among them.
10 They detest me and keep their distance;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,
they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 On my right the tribe[c] attacks;
they lay snares for my feet,
they build their siege ramps against me.
13 They break up my road;
they succeed in destroying me.
‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;
amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors overwhelm me;
my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
my safety vanishes like a cloud.
16 “And
now my life ebbs away;
days of suffering grip me.
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me[d];
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20 “I
cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of your hand you attack me.
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
you toss me about in the storm.
23 I know you will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
24 “Surely
no one lays a hand on a broken man
when he cries for help in his distress.
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother of jackals,
a companion of owls.
30 My skin grows black and peels;
my body burns with fever.
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,
and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
*************
約伯因著自己的遭遇心情變得低沉，不僅覺得人惡待他，也覺得上帝也變心對他不好！因為祂覺得自己雖然是行善和敬畏上帝的人，上帝應該好好對待他；他平常用愛心待人，人應該用愛心待他！但是，後來的遭遇缺超過他的想像，一切都不像他所期待的！
其實約伯這樣的遭遇也讓我們學了一課，人生的確不是像我們所想像的，一切都是正面或美好的，有些的確是讓我們很難受，讓我們感到消沉的！尤其是年紀越大，人生的經歷越多，越感受到人生不是一帆風順，而是不如意事十常八九！
然而我們不能為此來抱怨上帝和批評人，聖經在此描寫約伯在人生的低潮竟然抱怨上帝和批評人，不是要我們效法他的樣式，而是要讓我們看見人的軟弱。提醒我們：連約伯這樣敬畏上帝的人都會有軟弱的時候，我們更是要好好倚靠上帝，不要倚靠自己的努力！
不過我們在人生低潮時，仍然不要忘記使徒彼得所說的：「親愛的弟兄啊，你們是客旅，是寄居的。我勸你們要禁戒肉體的私慾；這私慾是與靈魂爭戰的。」（彼得前書2:11）還有希伯來書11章13-16節所說：「這些人都是存著信心死的，並沒有得著所應許的；卻從遠處望見，且歡喜迎接，又承認自己在世上是客旅，是寄居的。說這樣話的人是表明自己要找一個家鄉。他們若想念所離開的家鄉，還有可以回去的機會。他們卻羨慕一個更美的家鄉，就是在天上的。所以上帝被稱為他們的上帝，並不以為恥，因為他已經給他們預備了一座城。」
既然如此，我們要存盼望和喜樂的心，歡迎基督的再臨，上帝國完全的實現，世上的苦楚比起上帝的榮耀是至暫與至輕的！
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