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 those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
2 They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?
3 Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
4 There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.
5 They were driven out of the community.
They are driven out from the midst of men. They cry after them as after 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.
So that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
Among the bushes they bray; and under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.
9 Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
"Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.
10 They despise and shun me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face.
They abhor me, they keep their distance from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.
12 The rabble rise up against me, they send me running; like a city under siege they devise ways to destroy me.
On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, without anyone's help.
14 They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
As through a wide breach they come, in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.
15 Terrors overcome me; my honor is blown away by the wind; my salvation vanishes like a cloud.
Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
"Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.
17 At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18 God grabs me roughly by my clothes; he pulls me by the collar of my shirt.
By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He has thrown me in the mud; he has humbled me like dust and ashes.
He has cast me into the mire. 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 stand up, and you gaze at me.
21 You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.
22 You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.
23 I know you're taking me to my death, to the place where all the living go.
For I know that you will bring me to death, 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?
"However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
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 who was in trouble? Wasn't 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.
When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.
28 I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.
31 My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
