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 they that are younger than I hold me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished.
Yea, to what might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age had perished?
3 With want and with harsh famine, They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, [In] desolation and ruin,
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4 Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And their food [is] root of broom trees.
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their food.
5 They are cast out from the midst (They shout against them as a thief),
They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief; )
6 To dwell in a frightful place of valleys, Holes of earth and clefts.
To dwell in the clefts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7 They groan among shrubs, They are gathered together under nettles.
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
8 Sons of folly—even sons without name, They have been struck from the land.
They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9 And now, I have been their song, And I am to them for a byword.
And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword.
10 They have detested me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle 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.
Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13 They have broken down my path, They profit by my calamity: He has no helper.
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
14 They come as a wide breach, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
15 He has turned terrors against me, It pursues my abundance as the wind, And as a thick cloud, My safety has passed away.
Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
16 And now, in me my soul pours itself out, Days of affliction seize me.
And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 [At] night my bone has been pierced in me, And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down.
My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
18 By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it girds me.
By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 Casting me into mire, And I have become like dust and ashes.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to You, And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me.
I cry to thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
21 You are turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Your hand, You oppress me.
Thou hast become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22 You lift me up, You cause me to ride on the wind, And You melt—You level me.
Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
23 For I have known You bring me back [to] death, And [to] the house appointed for all living.
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 Surely not against the heap Does He send forth the hand, Though they have safety in its ruin.
Yet he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
25 Did I not weep for him whose day is hard? My soul has grieved for the needy.
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I expected good, then comes evil, And I wait for light, and darkness comes.
When I looked for good, then evil came: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Days of affliction have gone before me.
My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction came upon me.
28 I have gone mourning without the sun, I have risen, I cry in an assembly.
I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29 I have been a brother to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30 My skin has been black on me, And my bone has burned from heat,
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 And my harp becomes mourning, And my pipe the sound of weeping.”
My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
