Job 30
1 "But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
But now people much younger than me laugh at me; people whose fathers I would not put to work with my sheepdogs.
2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?
They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
3 They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
4 They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.
There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
5 They are driven out from the midst of men. They cry after them as after a thief;
They were driven out of the community.
6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of 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 bray; and under the nettles they are gathered together.
They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
8 They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.
They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
9 "Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.
Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
10 They abhor me, they keep their distance from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.
They despise and shun me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face.
11 For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.
God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
12 On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of 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, without anyone's help.
They cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
14 As through a wide breach they come, in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.
They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
15 Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
Terrors overcome me; my honor is blown away by the wind; my salvation vanishes like a cloud.
16 "Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.
And now my life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
18 By great force is my garment disfigured. 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. I have 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 answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
God, I cry to you but you don't answer; I stand before you, but you don't even notice me.
21 You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.
You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
22 You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.
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, 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 doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
Who would want to kick a man when he is down, when they cry for help in their time of trouble?
25 Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?
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; 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 heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.
Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
28 I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
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 jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
30 My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.
My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
31 Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
