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Such strength as they had meant nothing to me;
    their vigor had perished.
In want and emaciating hunger(A)
    they fled to the parched lands:
    to the desolate wasteland by night.
They plucked saltwort[a] and shrubs;
    the roots of the broom plant were their food.

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Footnotes

  1. 30:4 Saltwort: found in salt marshes and very sour to the taste; eaten by the extremely poor as a cooked vegetable. Broom plant: the juniper or brushwood; cf. Ps 120:4; a figure of bitterness and poverty, because of its bitter-tasting roots which are practically inedible.

Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
    since their vigor had gone from them?
Haggard from want and hunger,
    they roamed[a] the parched land(A)
    in desolate wastelands(B) at night.(C)
In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(D)
    and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:3 Or gnawed
  2. Job 30:4 Or fuel