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 they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? men in whom ripe age is perished.
3 Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
They pluck salt-wort with wormwood; and the roots of the broom are their food.
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 are driven forth from the midst of men; they cry after them as after a thief.
6 They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
In the clefts of the valleys must they dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
They are children of churls, yea, children of ignoble men; they were scourged out of the land.
9 Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
And now I am become their song, yea, I am a byword unto them.
10 They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
For He hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before 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.
Upon my right hand rise the brood; they entangle my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
They break up my path, they further my calamity, even men that have no helper.
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.
As through a wide breach they come; in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.
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 are turned upon me, they chase mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
In the night my bones are pierced, and fall from me, and my sinews take no rest.
18 With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.
By the great force of my disease is my garment disfigured; it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answer me; I stand up, and Thou lookest at me.
21 Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
Thou art turned to be cruel to me; with the might of Thy hand Thou hatest me.
22 Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
Thou liftest me up to the wind, Thou causest me to ride upon it; and Thou dissolvest my substance.
23 I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
Surely none shall put forth his hand to a ruinous heap, neither because of these things shall help come in one's calamity,
25 I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
If I have not wept for him that was in trouble, and if my soul grieved not for the needy.
26 I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
Yet, when I looked for good, there came evil; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
Mine inwards boil, and rest not; days of affliction are come upon me.
28 I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
I go mourning without the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
My skin is black, and falleth from me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
