Job 30
1 “And now, laughed at me, Have the younger in days than I, Whose fathers I have loathed to 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 Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished.
Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.
3 With want and with harsh famine, They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, [In] desolation and ruin,
They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.
4 Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And their food [is] root of broom trees.
They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.
5 They are cast out from the midst (They shout against them as a thief),
They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves
6 To dwell in a frightful place of valleys, Holes of earth and clefts.
They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.
7 They groan among shrubs, They are gathered together under nettles.
They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.
8 Sons of folly—even sons without name, They have been struck from the land.
They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.
9 And now, I have been their song, And I am to them for a byword.
And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.
10 They have detested me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.
I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.
11 Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
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 A brood arises on the right hand, They have cast away my feet, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.
The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:
13 They have broken down my path, They profit by my calamity: He has no helper.
They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;
14 They come as a wide breach, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.
15 He has turned terrors against me, It pursues my abundance as the wind, And as a thick cloud, My safety has passed away.
Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.
16 And now, in me my soul pours itself out, Days of affliction seize me.
But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:
17 [At] night my bone has been pierced in me, And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down.
The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.
18 By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it girds me.
With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.
19 Casting me into mire, And I have become like dust and ashes.
Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.
20 I cry to You, And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me.
You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.
21 You are turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Your hand, You oppress me.
You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.
22 You lift me up, You cause me to ride on the wind, And You melt—You level me.
Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.
23 For I have known You bring me back [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 Surely not against the heap Does He send forth the hand, Though they have safety in its ruin.
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 I not weep for him whose day is hard? My soul has grieved for the needy.
Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?
26 When I expected good, then comes evil, And I wait for light, and darkness comes.
For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
27 My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Days of affliction have gone before me.
My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.
28 I have gone mourning without the sun, I have risen, I cry in an assembly.
I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.
29 I have been a brother to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
30 My skin has been black on me, And my bone has burned from heat,
My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.
31 And my harp becomes mourning, And my pipe the sound of weeping.”
And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.
