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.
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.
2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?
Also — the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them hath old age perished.
3 They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
With want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste,
4 They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.
Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And broom-roots [is] their food.
5 They are driven out from the midst of men. They cry after them as after a thief;
From the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief),
6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
In a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts.
7 Among the bushes they bray; and under the nettles they are gathered together.
Among shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together.
8 They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.
Sons of folly — even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.
9 "Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.
And now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword.
10 They abhor me, they keep their distance from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.
They have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.
11 For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.
Because His cord He loosed and afflicteth me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
12 On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.
On the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.
13 They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, without anyone's help.
They have broken down my path, By my calamity they profit, 'He hath no helper.'
14 As through a wide breach they come, in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.
As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
15 Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
He hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.
16 "Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.
And now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction.
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down.
18 By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me.
19 He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.
Casting me into mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
I cry unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.
21 You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.
Thou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppressest me.
22 You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.
Thou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest — Thou levellest me.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And [to] the house appointed for all living.
24 "However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
Surely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.
25 Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?
Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy.
26 When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.
When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.
27 My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.
My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction.
28 I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.
29 I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30 My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.
My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,
31 Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.
