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 who are younger than I in years laugh at me, whose fathers I scorned to put as equals with the dogs of my flocks.
2 The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
Yea, what possible use can the strength of their hands be unto me, over whom old age hath passed fruitlessly?
3 Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
Who suffer for want and famine in solitude; who flee into the wilderness [where all is] darkness, ruin, and desolation;
4 And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
Who crop off mallows by the bushes, and have broom-bush roots as their bread;
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.
Who are driven forth from among [men], who are shouted after as though they were thieves,
6 They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
To dwell in the caverns of the valleys, in holes of the earth, and on naked cliffs.
7 They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
Among the bushes they shriek; under briers they are huddled together,
8 The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
The children of the worthless, yea, the children of the nameless, who were outcasts from the land.
9 Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
But now I am become their song, and I am become a byword unto them.
10 They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
They loathe me, they keep themselves far from me, and from my face they withhold not their spittle.
11 For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
Because he hath loosened the cord of my bow, and afflicted me, they have also 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.
Against my right hand rise up this swarm of worthless youths: they push away my feet, and they level against me their calamity-bringing paths.
13 They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
They destroy my footpath, they help forward my downfall, without any one to aid them.
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 broad breach they come: amidst a loud noise they rolled themselves along.
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 have turned their face against me; they chase like the wind my glory: and like a cloud is my happiness passed away.
16 And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
And now my soul is poured out over me; the days of affliction have seized on me;
17 In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
All night it holloweth out my bones out of my body; and my pursuers 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.
Through the Almlghty's power is my garment made unknown: like the opening of my coat hath he enclosed me.
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 aloud unto thee, but thou answerest me not: I stand up, and thou fixest thy regard against me.
21 Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
Thou art changed into a cruel master toward me: with the strength of thy hand thou assailest 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 pass away, and dissolvest in me all wise counsel.
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 back to death, and to the house of assembly for all the living.
24 But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
But doth not a man stretch out his hand among ruins? or doth one not cry out therefrom [for help] when he meeteth his downfall?
25 I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
Did I not weep for him that was hard pressed by misfortune? was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
That I hoped for good, but there came evil; and I waited for light, and there came darkness!
27 My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
My bowels heave, and rest not: the days of affliction have overcome me.
28 I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
I walk about mournfully without sunlight: when I rise up, in the assembly, I cry with pain.
29 I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
I am a brother to [howling] monsters, and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
My skin hangeth down black from me, and my bones are burnt from heat.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
And thus is changed to mourning my harp, and my pipe to the sound of weeping.
