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.
“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 Yea, whereto [should] the strength of their hands [profit] me, [men] in whom vigour hath perished?
Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished.
3 Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert:
With want and with harsh famine, They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, [In] desolation and ruin,
4 They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food.
Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And their food [is] root of broom trees.
5 They are driven forth from among [men] — they cry after them as after a thief —
They are cast out from the midst (They shout against them as a thief),
6 To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks:
To dwell in a frightful place of valleys, Holes of earth and clefts.
7 They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together:
They groan among shrubs, They are gathered together under nettles.
8 Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land.
Sons of folly—even sons without name, They have been struck from the land.
9 And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword.
And now, I have been their song, And I am to them for a byword.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face.
They have detested me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.
11 For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me.
Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
12 At [my] right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways;
A brood arises on the right hand, They have cast away my feet, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them;
They have broken down my path, They profit by my calamity: He has no helper.
14 They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.
They come as a wide breach, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
15 Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud.
He has turned terrors against me, It pursues my abundance as the wind, And as a thick cloud, My safety has passed away.
16 And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
And now, in me my soul pours itself out, Days of affliction seize me.
17 The night pierceth through my bones [and detacheth them] from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest:
[At] night my bone has been pierced in me, And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down.
18 By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat.
By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it girds me.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
Casting me into mire, And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me.
I cry to You, And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me.
21 Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me.
You are turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Your hand, You oppress me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance.
You lift me up, You cause me to ride on the wind, And You melt—You level me.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living.
For I have known You bring me back [to] death, And [to] the house appointed for all living.
24 Indeed, no prayer [availeth] when he stretcheth out [his] hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.
Surely not against the heap Does He send forth the hand, Though they have safety in its ruin.
25 Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy?
Did I not weep for him whose day is hard? My soul has grieved for the needy.
26 For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness.
When I expected good, then comes evil, And I wait for light, and darkness comes.
27 My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me.
My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Days of affliction have gone before me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation.
I have gone mourning without the sun, I have risen, I cry in an assembly.
29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
I have been a brother to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30 My skin is become black [and falleth] off me, and my bones are parched with heat.
My skin has been black on me, And my bone has burned from heat,
31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.
And my harp becomes mourning, And my pipe the sound of weeping.”
