Job And His Ultimate Suffering

After being highly regarded for his righteousness, there is more to Job’s sufferings…

He is now treated far worse than he was looked up to.

May G-d forbid that anyone be in the same condition as Job.

Being righteous is not a guarantee or sign of prosperity.

Hence, do not be quick to judge fully at one’s state or behaviour at any given time.

Always leave room for doubt and change or chance.

“Destruction Of Job”

But now, they scoff at me, people younger in age than I, whose fathers I rejected from serving with my sheep dogs.
30:1
… Their old age was utterly lost for them.
:2
They have despised me, distanced themselves from me; have not withheld spittle from my face.
:10
Demons turn against me; [evil] chases away my nobility like the wind; my salvation has drifted away like a cloud.
:15
… my days of affliction seize me.
:16
… I am likened to dust and ashes.
:19
I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; when I stop, You scrutinize me.
:20
You turned to be cruel to me; with the might of Your hand, You despise me.
:21
For I knew that You would bring me to Death, to the destination of all life.
:23
Did I not weep for the heavily burdened, did I not sorrow for the destitute?
:25
My harp has turned for mourning, my flute to the sound of weepers.
:31

1 But now, those younger in days than I laugh at me; those whose fathers I despised, to put them with the sheep dogs.
2 Moreover, why did I need the strength of their hands; old age was wasted on them.
3 Because of want and because of hunger, they sat in solitude; they would flee to desolation, to the darkness of waste and desolation.
4 They pluck salt-wort on shrubs, and the roots of juniper bushes were their fare.
5 They are driven forth from the midst [of the city], they shout at them as [at] a thief.
6 To dwell in the crevices of the valleys, in holes of earth and rocks.
7 Among the shrubs they bray; under the nettles they gather.
8 Sons of churls, sons of ignoble men were broken from the land.
9 But now I have become their song, and I have become their conversation piece.
10 They abhor me, they have distanced themselves from me, and from my face they have spared no spittle.
11 For He untied my bowstring and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before me.
12 On my right, “little sprouts” stand; they push away my feet and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path; they serve to increase my calamity, although they derive no help therefrom.
14 As [through] a wide breach they come; under [cover of] darkness they roll upon [me].
15 Terrors turned upon me; they pursue my nobility as a spirit, and my salvation passed by like a cloud.
16 And now, my soul pours out upon me; days of affliction seize me.
17 At night, my bones are picked off me and my sinews have no rest.
18 By great force is my garment changed; like the opening of my shirt it girds me.
19 It directed me to the mud, and I was compared to dust and ashes.
20 I cry out to You but You do not answer me; I stood, and You ponder me.
21 You became cruel to me; with the strength of Your hand You manifest hatred to me.
22 You lift me up to the spirit, You cause me to ride [on it], and weakness melts me away.
23 For I knew that You would return me to death and to the meeting place of all living.
24 But not with destruction does He stretch forth his hand; if with His misfortune, He would dandle them.
25 whether I did not weep for one who had a difficult time, or whether my soul was [not] grieved for the needy.
26 For I hoped for good and evil came, and I looked forward to light and pitch darkness came.
27 My innards seethed and did not become silent; days of affliction came before me.
28 I went blackened without the sun; I rose in the congregation and I would cry out.
29 I was a brother to jackals and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin, which was upon me, was blackened, and my bones dried out from the heat.
31 And my harp became mournful, and my flute [turned] into the voice of weepers.