Job 30
1 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.
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 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.
Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? men in whom ripe age is perished.
3 They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.
They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.
They pluck salt-wort with wormwood; and the roots of the broom are their food.
5 They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves
They are driven forth from the midst of men; they cry after them as after a thief.
6 They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.
In the clefts of the valleys must they dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.
Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.
They are children of churls, yea, children of ignoble men; they were scourged out of the land.
9 And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.
And now I am become their song, yea, I am a byword unto them.
10 I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 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.
For He hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before me.
12 The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:
Upon my right hand rise the brood; they entangle my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;
They break up my path, they further my calamity, even men that have no helper.
14 As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.
As through a wide breach they come; in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.
15 Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being 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 But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:
And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.
In the night my bones are pierced, and fall from me, and my sinews take no rest.
18 With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.
By the great force of my disease is my garment disfigured; it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20 You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.
I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answer me; I stand up, and Thou lookest at me.
21 You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.
Thou art turned to be cruel to me; with the might of Thy hand Thou hatest me.
22 Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.
Thou liftest me up to the wind, Thou causest me to ride upon it; and Thou dissolvest my substance.
23 For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.
For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?
Surely none shall put forth his hand to a ruinous heap, neither because of these things shall help come in one's calamity,
25 Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?
If I have not wept for him that was in trouble, and if my soul grieved not for the needy.
26 For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
Yet, when I looked for good, there came evil; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.
Mine inwards boil, and rest not; days of affliction are come upon me.
28 I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.
I go mourning without the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.
My skin is black, and falleth from me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
