Job 30
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set 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 Yea, whereto [should] the strength of their hands [profit] me, [men] in whom vigour hath perished?
Yes, why had I the strength of their hands? for them the full term [of life] was lost.
3 Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert:
[One is] childless in lack and famine, [such as] they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.
4 They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for 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 are driven forth from among [men] — they cry after them as after a thief —
Thieves have risen up against me,
6 To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks:
whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild shrubs.
7 They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together:
They will cry out among the rustling [bushes].
8 Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land.
[They are] sons of fools and vile men, [whose] name and glory [are] quenched from off the earth.
9 And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword.
But now I am their music, and they have me for a byword.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face.
And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my face.
11 For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me.
For he has opened his quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off the restraint of my presence.
12 At [my] right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways;
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 mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them;
My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment: he has shot at me with his weapons.
14 They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.
And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains.
15 Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud.
My pains return upon [me]; my hope is gone like the wind, and my safety as a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me; and days of anguish seize me.
17 The night pierceth through my bones [and detacheth them] from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest:
And by night my bones are confounded; and my sinews are relaxed.
18 By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as 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 He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
And you have counted me as clay; my portion in dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me.
And I have cried to you, but you hear me not: but they stood still, and observed me.
21 Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me.
They attacked me also without mercy: you have scourged me with a strong hand.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance.
And you have put me to grief, and have cast me away from safety.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living.
For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house [appointed] for every mortal.
24 Indeed, no prayer [availeth] when he stretcheth out [his] hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.
Oh then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another, and he should do this for me.
25 Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy?
Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in distress.
26 For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness.
But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the more upon me.
27 My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me.
My belly boiled, and would not cease: the days of poverty prevented me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation.
I went mourning without restraint: and I have stood and cried out in the assembly.
29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
I am become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is become black [and falleth] off me, and my bones are parched with heat.
And my skin has been greatly blackened, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.
My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.
