Job 30
1 But, now, they who are of fewer days than I, have poured derision upon me; whose fathers I refused—to 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 Even the strength of their hands, wherefore was it mine? Upon them, vigour was lost;
The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
3 In want and hunger, they were lean, —who used to gnaw the dry ground, a dark night of desolation!
Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
4 Who used to pluck off the mallow by the bushes, with the root of the broom for their food;
And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
5 Out of the midst, were they driven, men shouted 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 In the fissures, of the ravines had they to dwell, in holes of dust and crags;
They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
7 Among the bushes, used they to shriek, Under the bramble, were they huddled together:
They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
8 Sons of the base, yea sons of the nameless, they were scourged out of the land.
The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
9 But, now, their song, have I become, Yea I serve them for a byword;
Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
10 They abhor me—have put themselves far from me, and, from my face, have not withheld—spittle!
They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
11 Because, my girdle, he had loosened and had humbled me, therefore, the bridle—in my presence, cast they off;
For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
12 On my right hand, the young brood rose up, —My feet, they thrust aside, and cast up against me their earthworks of 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 brake up my path, —My engulfing ruin, they helped forward, unaided;
They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
14 As through a wide breach, came they on, with a crashing noise, they rolled themselves along.
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 There are turned upon me terrors, —Chased away as with a wind, is mine abundance, and, as a cloud, hath passed away my prosperity.
I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
16 Now, therefore, over myself, my soul poureth itself out, There seize me days of affliction:
And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
17 Night, boreth, my bones, all over me, —and, my sinews, find no rest;
In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
18 Most effectually, is my skin disfigured, —Like the collar of my tunic, it girdeth me about:
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 have become like dust and ashes.
I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
20 I cry out for help unto thee, and thou dost not answer, I stand still, and thou dost gaze at me;
I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
21 Thou art turned to become a cruel one unto me, With the might of thy hand, thou assailest me;
Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
22 Thou liftest up me to the wind, thou carriest me away, and the storm maketh me faint;
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, unto death, thou wilt bring me back, even unto the house of meeting for every one living.
I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
24 Only, against a heap of ruins, will one not thrust a hand! Surely, when one is in calamity—for that very reason, is there an outcry for help.
But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
25 Verily I wept, for him whose lot was hard, Grieved was my soul, for the needy.
I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
26 Surely, for good, I looked, but there came in evil, And I waited for light, but there came in darkness;
I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
27 I boiled within me, and rested not, There confronted me—days of affliction;
My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
28 In gloom, I walked along, without sun, I arose—in the convocation, I cried out for help;
I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
29 A brother, became I to the brutes that howl, and a companion to the birds that screech:
I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
30 My skin, turned black, and peeled off me, and, my bones, burned with heat:
My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
31 Thus is attuned to mourning—my lyre, and my flute, to the noise of them who weep.
My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
