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 the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:
2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief; )
Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
