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.
“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 They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished.
3 Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
With want and with harsh famine, They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, [In] desolation and ruin,
4 There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And their food [is] root of broom trees.
5 They were driven out of the community.
They are cast out from the midst (They shout against them as a thief),
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 a frightful place of valleys, Holes of earth and clefts.
7 They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
They groan among shrubs, They are gathered together under nettles.
8 They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
Sons of folly—even sons without name, They have been struck from the land.
9 Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
And now, I have been their song, And I am to them for a byword.
10 They despise and shun me; they don't hesitate 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 God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
12 The rabble rise up against me, they send me running; like a city under siege they devise ways to destroy me.
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 cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
They have broken down my path, They profit by my calamity: He has no helper.
14 They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
They come as a wide breach, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
15 Terrors overcome me; my honor is blown away by the wind; my salvation vanishes 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 life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
And now, in me my soul pours itself out, Days of affliction seize me.
17 At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
[At] night my bone has been pierced in me, And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down.
18 God grabs me roughly by my clothes; he pulls me by the collar of my shirt.
By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it girds me.
19 He has thrown me in the mud; he has humbled me like dust and ashes.
Casting me into mire, And I have 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 to You, And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me.
21 You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
You are turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Your hand, You oppress me.
22 You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
You lift me up, You cause me to ride on the wind, And You melt—You level me.
23 I know you're taking me to my death, to the place where all the living go.
For I have known You bring me back [to] death, And [to] the house appointed for all living.
24 Who would want to kick a man when he is down, when they cry for help in their time of trouble?
Surely not against the heap Does He send forth the hand, Though they have safety in its ruin.
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 whose day is hard? My soul has 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.
When I expected good, then comes evil, And I wait for light, and darkness comes.
27 Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Days of affliction have gone before me.
28 I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
I have gone mourning without the sun, I have risen, I cry in an assembly.
29 I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
I have been a brother to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30 My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
My skin has been black on me, And my bone has burned from heat,
31 My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
And my harp becomes mourning, And my pipe the sound of weeping.”
