Job 30
1 “But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.
But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them?
Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? men in whom ripe age is perished.
3 Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry ground; in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; and the roots of the broom [are] their meat.
5 They were banished from among men, shouted down like thieves,
They are driven forth from the midst [of men]; they cry after them as after a thief.
6 so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
In the clefts of the valleys must they dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 They cried out among the shrubs and huddled beneath the nettles.
Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.
[They are] children of fools, yea, children of base men; they were scourged out of the land.
9 And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
And now I am become their song, yea, I am a byword unto them.
10 They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before me.
12 The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.
Upon my right hand rise the rabble; they thrust aside my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, [even] men that have no helper.
14 They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
As through a wide breach they come: in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].
15 Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
Terrors are turned upon me, they chase mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.
And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.
In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest.
18 With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.
By the great force [of my disease] is my garment disfigured: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou lookest at me.
21 You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.
Thou art turned to be cruel to me: with the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.
22 You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.
Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride [upon it]; and thou dissolvest me in the storm.
23 Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 Yet no one stretches out his hand to a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.
Surely against a ruinous heap he will not put forth his hand; though [it be] in his destruction, [one may utter] a cry because of these things.
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
When I looked for good, then evil came; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.
My bowels boil, and rest not; days of affliction are come upon me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
My skin is black, [and falleth] from me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.
Therefore is my harp [turned] to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
