Job 30
1 Bvt now they that are yonger then I, mocke me: yea, they whose fathers I haue refused to set with the dogges of my flockes.
“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.
2 For whereto shoulde the strength of their handes haue serued mee, seeing age perished in them?
What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them?
3 For pouertie and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wildernes, which is darke, desolate and waste.
Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
4 They cut vp nettels by the bushes, and the iuniper rootes was their meate.
They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
5 They were chased forth from among men: they shouted at them, as at a theefe.
They were banished from among men, shouted down like thieves,
6 Therfore they dwelt in the clefts of riuers, in the holes of the earth and rockes.
so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 They roared among the bushes, and vnder the thistles they gathered themselues.
They cried out among the shrubs and huddled beneath the nettles.
8 They were the children of fooles and the children of villaines, which were more vile then the earth.
A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.
9 And now am I their song, and I am their talke.
And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
10 They abhorre me, and flee farre from mee, and spare not to spit in my face.
They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because that God hath loosed my corde and humbled mee, they haue loosed the bridle before me.
Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12 The youth rise vp at my right hand: they haue pusht my feete, and haue trode on me as on the paths of their destruction.
The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.
13 They haue destroyed my paths: they tooke pleasure at my calamitie, they had none helpe.
They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.
14 They came as a great breach of waters, and vnder this calamitie they come on heapes.
They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
15 Feare is turned vpon mee: and they pursue my soule as the winde, and mine health passeth away as a cloude.
Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
16 Therefore my soule is nowe powred out vpon me, and the dayes of affliction haue taken holde on me.
And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.
17 It pearceth my bones in the night, and my sinewes take no rest.
Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.
18 For the great vehemencie is my garment changed, which compasseth me about as the colar of my coate.
With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.
19 He hath cast me into the myre, and I am become like ashes and dust.
He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 Whe I cry vnto thee, thou doest not heare me, neither regardest me, when I stand vp.
I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.
21 Thou turnest thy selfe cruelly against me, and art enemie vnto mee with the strength of thine hand.
You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.
22 Thou takest me vp and causest mee to ride vpon the winde, and makest my strength to faile.
You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.
23 Surely I knowe that thou wilt bring mee to death, and to the house appoynted for all the liuing.
Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
24 Doubtles none can stretch his hand vnto the graue, though they cry in his destruction.
Yet no one stretches out his hand to a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.
25 Did not I weepe with him that was in trouble? was not my soule in heauinesse for the poore?
Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
26 Yet when I looked for good, euill came vnto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkenesse.
But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
27 My bowels did boyle without rest: for the dayes of affliction are come vpon me.
I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.
28 I went mourning without sunne: I stood vp in the congregation and cryed.
I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to the dragons, and a companion to the ostriches.
I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
30 My skinne is blacke vpon me, and my bones are burnt with heate.
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
31 Therefore mine harpe is turned to mourning, and mine organs into the voyce of them that weepe.
My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.
