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 those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.
2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.
3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.
5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief; )
They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves
6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.
8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.
9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
For he has made loose the cord of my bow, and put me to shame; he has sent down my flag to the earth before me.
12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;
14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.
15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.
21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.
