Job 30
1 But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:
But now people much younger than me laugh at me; people whose fathers I would not put to work with my sheepdogs.
2 The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
3 Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
4 And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
5 Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
They were driven out of the community.
6 They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
People shouted after them as if they were thieves. They have to live in dangerous ravines, in caves and among the rocks.
7 They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
8 The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
9 Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
10 They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
They despise and shun me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face.
11 For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
12 At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.
The rabble rise up against me, they send me running; like a city under siege they devise ways to destroy me.
13 They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
They cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
14 They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
15 I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
Terrors overcome me; my honor is blown away by the wind; my salvation vanishes like a cloud.
16 And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
And now my life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
17 In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
18 With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.
God grabs me roughly by my clothes; he pulls me by the collar of my shirt.
19 I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
He has thrown me in the mud; he has humbled me like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
God, I cry to you but you don't answer; I stand before you, but you don't even notice me.
21 Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
22 Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
23 I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
I know you're taking me to my death, to the place where all the living go.
24 But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
Who would want to kick a man when he is down, when they cry for help in their time of trouble?
25 I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
Didn't I weep for those having hard times? Didn't I grieve at what the poor suffered?
26 I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
But when I looked for good, only evil came, and when I waited for the light, all that came was darkness.
27 My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
28 I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
30 My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
