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 hath old age perished.
3 Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
With want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste,
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 broom-roots [is] their food.
5 They were driven out of the community.
From the midst they are cast out, (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.
In a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts.
7 They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
Among shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together.
8 They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
Sons of folly — even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.
9 Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
And now, their song I have been, 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 abominated 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 His cord He loosed and afflicteth 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.
On the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, 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, By my calamity they profit, 'He hath no helper.'
14 They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
As a wide breach they come, 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 hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.
16 And now my life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
And now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction.
17 At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do 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 doth gird me.
19 He has thrown me in the mud; he has humbled me like dust and ashes.
Casting me into 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 unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.
21 You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
Thou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppressest me.
22 You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
Thou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest — Thou levellest me.
23 I know you're taking me to my death, to the place where all the living go.
For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, 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 Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.
25 Didn't I weep for those having hard times? Didn't I grieve at what the poor suffered?
Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul 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 good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.
27 Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction.
28 I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.
29 I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
A brother I have been 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 hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,
31 My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.
