Job 30
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
But now people much younger than me laugh at me; people whose fathers I would not put to work with my sheepdogs.
2 Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? men in whom ripe age is perished.
They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
3 They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
4 They pluck salt-wort with wormwood; and the roots of the broom are their food.
There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
5 They are driven forth from the midst of men; they cry after them as after a thief.
They were driven out of the community.
6 In the clefts of the valleys must they dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
People shouted after them as if they were thieves. They have to live in dangerous ravines, in caves and among the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they are gathered together.
They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
8 They are children of churls, yea, children of ignoble men; they were scourged out of the land.
They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
9 And now I am become their song, yea, I am a byword unto them.
Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
They despise and shun me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face.
11 For He hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before me.
God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
12 Upon my right hand rise the brood; they entangle my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
The rabble rise up against me, they send me running; like a city under siege they devise ways to destroy me.
13 They break up my path, they further my calamity, even men that have no helper.
They cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
14 As through a wide breach they come; in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.
They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
15 Terrors are turned upon me, they chase mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
Terrors overcome me; my honor is blown away by the wind; my salvation vanishes like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
And now my life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
17 In the night my bones are pierced, and fall from me, and my sinews take no rest.
At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment disfigured; it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
God grabs me roughly by my clothes; he pulls me by the collar of my shirt.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
He has thrown me in the mud; he has humbled me like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answer me; I stand up, and Thou lookest at me.
God, I cry to you but you don't answer; I stand before you, but you don't even notice me.
21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me; with the might of Thy hand Thou hatest me.
You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind, Thou causest me to ride upon it; and Thou dissolvest my substance.
You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
23 For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
I know you're taking me to my death, to the place where all the living go.
24 Surely none shall put forth his hand to a ruinous heap, neither because of these things shall help come in one's calamity,
Who would want to kick a man when he is down, when they cry for help in their time of trouble?
25 If I have not wept for him that was in trouble, and if my soul grieved not for the needy.
Didn't I weep for those having hard times? Didn't I grieve at what the poor suffered?
26 Yet, when I looked for good, there came evil; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
But when I looked for good, only evil came, and when I waited for the light, all that came was darkness.
27 Mine inwards boil, and rest not; days of affliction are come upon me.
Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
28 I go mourning without the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
30 My skin is black, and falleth from me, and my bones are burned with heat.
My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
31 Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
