Job 30
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have 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 Yes, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief; )
They were driven out of the community.
6 To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in 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 brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
8 They were children of fools, yes, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
9 And now am I their song, yes, I am their byword.
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 Because he has loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
12 On my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
The rabble rise up against me, they send me running; like a city under siege they devise ways to destroy me.
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
They cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
14 They came on me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves on me.
They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
15 Terrors are turned on me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passes 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 on me; the days of affliction have taken hold on me.
And now my life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: 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 changed: it binds 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 has 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 to you, and you do not hear me: I stand up, and you regard me not.
God, I cry to you but you don't answer; I stand before you, but you don't even notice me.
21 You are become cruel to me: with your strong hand you oppose yourself against me.
You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
22 You lift me up to the wind; you cause me to ride on it, and dissolve my substance.
You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
23 For I know that you will 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 However, he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
Who would want to kick a man when he is down, when they cry for help in their time of trouble?
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
Didn't I weep for those having hard times? Didn't I grieve at what the poor suffered?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came to me: 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 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
30 My skin is black on me, and my bones are burned with heat.
My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
