Job 30
1 “But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.
But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.
2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?
Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.
3 They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.
4 They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom tree are their food.
They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.
5 They are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief,
They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves
6 so that they live in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.
7 They bray among the bushes. They are gathered together under the nettles.
They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.
8 They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men. They were flogged out of the land.
They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.
9 “Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.
And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.
I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.
11 For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.
For he has made loose the cord of my bow, and put me to shame; he has sent down my flag to the earth before me.
12 On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet. They cast their ways of destruction up against me.
The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:
13 They mar my path. They promote my destruction without anyone’s help.
They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;
14 As through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin.
As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.
15 Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.
16 “Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold of me.
But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.
18 My garment is disfigured by great force. It binds me about as the collar of my tunic.
With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.
Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.
21 You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.
You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.
22 You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.
Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living.
For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.
24 “However does not one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?
25 Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came. When I waited for light, darkness came.
For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
27 My heart is troubled, and does not rest. Days of affliction have come on me.
My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.
28 I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
30 My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.
My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.
31 Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.
