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 they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Even the strength of their hands, wherefore was it mine? Upon them, vigour was lost;
Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
3 In want and hunger, they were lean, —who used to gnaw the dry ground, a dark night of desolation!
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4 Who used to pluck off the mallow by the bushes, with the root of the broom for their food;
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
5 Out of the midst, were they driven, men shouted after them, as after a thief;
They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief; )
6 In the fissures, of the ravines had they to dwell, in holes of dust and crags;
To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes, used they to shriek, Under the bramble, were they huddled together:
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
8 Sons of the base, yea sons of the nameless, they were scourged out of the land.
They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9 But, now, their song, have I become, Yea I serve them for a byword;
And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me—have put themselves far from me, and, from my face, have not withheld—spittle!
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not 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;
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12 On my right hand, the young brood rose up, —My feet, they thrust aside, and cast up against me their earthworks of destruction;
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 brake up my path, —My engulfing ruin, they helped forward, unaided;
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
14 As through a wide breach, came they on, with a crashing noise, they rolled themselves along.
They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
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.
Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
16 Now, therefore, over myself, my soul poureth itself out, There seize me days of affliction:
And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 Night, boreth, my bones, all over me, —and, my sinews, find no rest;
My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
18 Most effectually, is my skin disfigured, —Like the collar of my tunic, it girdeth me about:
By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust 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 unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
21 Thou art turned to become a cruel one unto me, With the might of thy hand, thou assailest me;
Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22 Thou liftest up me to the wind, thou carriest me away, and the storm maketh me faint;
Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
23 For I know that, unto death, thou wilt bring me back, even unto the house of meeting for every one living.
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
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.
Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
25 Verily I wept, for him whose lot was hard, Grieved was my soul, for the needy.
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 Surely, for good, I looked, but there came in evil, And I waited for light, but there came in darkness;
When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 I boiled within me, and rested not, There confronted me—days of affliction;
My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
28 In gloom, I walked along, without sun, I arose—in the convocation, I cried out for help;
I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29 A brother, became I to the brutes that howl, and a companion to the birds that screech:
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30 My skin, turned black, and peeled off me, and, my bones, burned with heat:
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 Thus is attuned to mourning—my lyre, and my flute, to the noise of them who weep.
My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
