Job 30
1 But now, those younger in years scorn me, whose fathers I would not have seen fit to place with the dogs of my flock,
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 the strength of whose hands was nothing to me, and they were considered unworthy of life itself.
Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.
3 They were barren from poverty and hunger; they gnawed in solitude, layered with misfortune and misery.
They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.
4 And they chewed grass and the bark from trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.
5 They took these things from the steep valleys, and when they discovered one of these things, they rushed to the others with a cry.
They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves
6 They lived in the parched desert and in caves underground or above the rocks.
They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.
7 They rejoiced among these kinds of things, and they considered it delightful to be under thorns.
They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.
8 These are the sons of foolish and base men, not even paying any attention to the land.
They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.
9 Now I become their song, and I have been made into their proverb.
And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.
10 They loathe me, and so they flee far from me, and they are not reluctant 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 opened his quiver and has afflicted me, and he has placed a bridle in my mouth.
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 Immediately, upon rising, my calamities rise up to the right. They have overturned my feet and have pressed me down along their way like waves.
The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:
13 They have diverted my journeys; they have waited to ambush me, and they have prevailed, and there was no one who might bring help.
They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;
14 They have rushed upon me, as when a wall is broken or a gate opened, and they have been pulled down into my miseries.
As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.
15 I have been reduced to nothing. You have taken away my desire like a wind, and my health has passed by like a cloud.
Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.
16 But now my soul withers within myself, and the days of affliction take hold of me.
But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:
17 At night, my bone is pierced with sorrows, and those who feed on me, do not sleep.
The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.
18 By the sheer number of them my clothing is worn away, and they have closed in on me like the collar of my coat.
With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.
19 I have been treated like dirt, and I have been turned into embers 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 heed me. I stand up, and you do not look back at me.
You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.
21 You have changed me into hardness, and, with the hardness of your hand, you oppose me.
You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.
22 You have lifted me up, and, placing me as if on the wind, you have thrown me down powerfully.
Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.
23 I know that you will hand me over to death, where a home has been established for all the living.
For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.
24 Truly, then, you do not extend your hand in order to consume them, and if they fall down, you will save them.
Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?
25 Once, I wept over him who was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?
26 I expected good things, but evil things have come to me. I stood ready for light, yet darkness burst forth.
For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
27 My insides have seethed, without any rest, for the days of affliction have prevented it.
My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.
28 I went forth mourning, without anger, and rising up, I cried out in confusion.
I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.
29 I was the brother of snakes, and the companion of ostriches.
I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
30 My skin has become blackened over me, and my bones have dried up because of the heat.
My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.
31 My harp has been turned into mourning, and my pipes have been turned into a voice of weeping.
And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.
