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 the youngest have laughed me to scorn, now they reprove me in [their] turn, whose fathers I set at nothing; whom I did not deem worthy [to be with] my shepherd dogs.
2 the strength of whose hands was nothing to me, and they were considered unworthy of life itself.
Yes, why had I the strength of their hands? for them the full term [of life] was lost.
3 They were barren from poverty and hunger; they gnawed in solitude, layered with misfortune and misery.
[One is] childless in lack and famine, [such as] they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.
4 And they chewed grass and the bark from trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
Who compass the salt places on the sounding [shore], who had salt [herbs] for their food, and were dishonorable and of no repute, in lack of every good thing; who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger.
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.
Thieves have risen up against me,
6 They lived in the parched desert and in caves underground or above the rocks.
whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild shrubs.
7 They rejoiced among these kinds of things, and they considered it delightful to be under thorns.
They will cry out among the rustling [bushes].
8 These are the sons of foolish and base men, not even paying any attention to the land.
[They are] sons of fools and vile men, [whose] name and glory [are] quenched from off the earth.
9 Now I become their song, and I have been made into their proverb.
But now I am their music, and they have me for a byword.
10 They loathe me, and so they flee far from me, and they are not reluctant to spit in my face.
And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my face.
11 For he has opened his quiver and has afflicted me, and he has placed a bridle in my mouth.
For he has opened his quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off the restraint of my presence.
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.
They have risen up against [me] on the right hand of [their] offspring; they have stretched out their foot, and directed against me the ways of their destruction.
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.
My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment: he has shot at me with his weapons.
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.
And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains.
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.
My pains return upon [me]; my hope is gone like the wind, and my safety as a cloud.
16 But now my soul withers within myself, and the days of affliction take hold of me.
Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me; and days of anguish seize me.
17 At night, my bone is pierced with sorrows, and those who feed on me, do not sleep.
And by night my bones are confounded; and my sinews are relaxed.
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 [my disease] has taken hold of my garment: it has compassed me as the collar of my coat.
19 I have been treated like dirt, and I have been turned into embers and ashes.
And you have counted me as clay; my portion in dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you, and you do not heed me. I stand up, and you do not look back at me.
And I have cried to you, but you hear me not: but they stood still, and observed me.
21 You have changed me into hardness, and, with the hardness of your hand, you oppose me.
They attacked me also without mercy: you have scourged me with a strong hand.
22 You have lifted me up, and, placing me as if on the wind, you have thrown me down powerfully.
And you have put me to grief, and have cast me away from safety.
23 I know that you will hand me over to death, where a home has been established for all the living.
For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house [appointed] for every mortal.
24 Truly, then, you do not extend your hand in order to consume them, and if they fall down, you will save them.
Oh then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another, and he should do this for me.
25 Once, I wept over him who was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in distress.
26 I expected good things, but evil things have come to me. I stood ready for light, yet darkness burst forth.
But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the more upon me.
27 My insides have seethed, without any rest, for the days of affliction have prevented it.
My belly boiled, and would not cease: the days of poverty prevented me.
28 I went forth mourning, without anger, and rising up, I cried out in confusion.
I went mourning without restraint: and I have stood and cried out in the assembly.
29 I was the brother of snakes, and the companion of ostriches.
I am become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin has become blackened over me, and my bones have dried up because of the heat.
And my skin has been greatly blackened, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 My harp has been turned into mourning, and my pipes have been turned into a voice of weeping.
My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.
