Job 30
1 But now people much younger than me laugh at me; people whose fathers I would not put to work with my sheepdogs.
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 They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
Yea, what possible use can the strength of their hands be unto me, over whom old age hath passed fruitlessly?
3 Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
Who suffer for want and famine in solitude; who flee into the wilderness [where all is] darkness, ruin, and desolation;
4 There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
Who crop off mallows by the bushes, and have broom-bush roots as their bread;
5 They were driven out of the community.
Who are driven forth from among [men], who are shouted after as though they were thieves,
6 People shouted after them as if they were thieves. They have to live in dangerous ravines, in caves and among the rocks.
To dwell in the caverns of the valleys, in holes of the earth, and on naked cliffs.
7 They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
Among the bushes they shriek; under briers they are huddled together,
8 They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
The children of the worthless, yea, the children of the nameless, who were outcasts from the land.
9 Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
But now I am become their song, and I am become a byword unto them.
10 They despise and shun me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face.
They loathe me, they keep themselves far from me, and from my face they withhold not their spittle.
11 God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
Because he hath loosened the cord of my bow, and afflicted me, they have also cast off the bridle before me.
12 The rabble rise up against me, they send me running; like a city under siege they devise ways to destroy me.
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 cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
They destroy my footpath, they help forward my downfall, without any one to aid them.
14 They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
As [through] a broad breach they come: amidst a loud noise they rolled themselves along.
15 Terrors overcome me; my honor is blown away by the wind; my salvation vanishes 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 life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
And now my soul is poured out over me; the days of affliction have seized on me;
17 At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
All night it holloweth out my bones out of my body; and my pursuers take no rest.
18 God grabs me roughly by my clothes; he pulls me by the collar of my shirt.
Through the Almlghty's power is my garment made unknown: like the opening of my coat hath he enclosed me.
19 He has thrown me in the mud; he has humbled me like dust and ashes.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20 God, I cry to you but you don't answer; I stand before you, but you don't even notice me.
I cry aloud unto thee, but thou answerest me not: I stand up, and thou fixest thy regard against me.
21 You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
Thou art changed into a cruel master toward me: with the strength of thy hand thou assailest me.
22 You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to pass away, and dissolvest in me all wise counsel.
23 I know you're taking me to my death, to the place where all the living go.
For I know that thou wilt bring me back to death, and to the house of assembly for all the living.
24 Who would want to kick a man when he is down, when they cry for help in their time of trouble?
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 Didn't I weep for those having hard times? Didn't I grieve at what the poor suffered?
Did I not weep for him that was hard pressed by misfortune? was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But when I looked for good, only evil came, and when I waited for the light, all that came was darkness.
That I hoped for good, but there came evil; and I waited for light, and there came darkness!
27 Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
My bowels heave, and rest not: the days of affliction have overcome me.
28 I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
I walk about mournfully without sunlight: when I rise up, in the assembly, I cry with pain.
29 I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
I am a brother to [howling] monsters, and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
My skin hangeth down black from me, and my bones are burnt from heat.
31 My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
And thus is changed to mourning my harp, and my pipe to the sound of weeping.
