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.
And now, laughed at me, Have the younger in days than I, Whose fathers I have loathed 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?
Also — the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them hath old age perished.
3 Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
With want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste,
4 They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And broom-roots [is] their food.
5 They were banished from among men, shouted down like thieves,
From the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief),
6 so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
In a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts.
7 They cried out among the shrubs and huddled beneath the nettles.
Among shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together.
8 A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.
Sons of folly — even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.
9 And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
And now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword.
10 They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
They have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.
11 Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
Because His cord He loosed and afflicteth me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
12 The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.
On the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.
13 They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.
They have broken down my path, By my calamity they profit, 'He hath no helper.'
14 They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
15 Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
He hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.
And now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction.
17 Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.
At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down.
18 With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.
By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me.
19 He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.
Casting me into 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 have stood, and Thou dost consider me.
21 You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.
Thou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppressest me.
22 You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.
Thou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest — Thou levellest me.
23 Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, 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 not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy.
26 But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.
27 I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.
My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.
29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,
31 My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.
And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.
