Job 30
1 Now those who are younger than I have nothing but mockery for me— these young men whose fathers I would have refused to allow to work beside the dogs of my flock.
But now the youngest have laughed me to scorn, now they reprove me in [their] turn, whose fathers I set at nothing; whom I did not deem worthy [to be with] my shepherd dogs.
2 Indeed, the strength of their fathers' hands, how could it have helped me— men in whom the strength of their mature age had perished?
Yes, why had I the strength of their hands? for them the full term [of life] was lost.
3 They were thin from poverty and hunger; they gnawed at the dry ground in the darkness of wilderness and desolation.
[One is] childless in lack and famine, [such as] they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.
4 They plucked saltwort and bushes' leaves; the roots of the broom tree were their food.
Who compass the salt places on the sounding [shore], who had salt [herbs] for their food, and were dishonorable and of no repute, in lack of every good thing; who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger.
5 They were driven out from among people who shouted after them as one would shout after a thief.
Thieves have risen up against me,
6 So they had to live in river valleys, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild shrubs.
7 Among the bushes they brayed like donkeys and they gathered together under the nettles.
They will cry out among the rustling [bushes].
8 They were the sons of fools, indeed, sons of nameless people! They were driven out of the land with whips.
[They are] sons of fools and vile men, [whose] name and glory [are] quenched from off the earth.
9 But now I have become the subject of their taunting song; I have become a byword for them.
But now I am their music, and they have me for a byword.
10 They abhor me and stand far off from me; they do not refrain from spitting in my face.
And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my face.
11 For God has unstrung the string to my bow and afflicted me, and those who taunt me cast off restraint before my face.
For he has opened his quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off the restraint of my presence.
12 Upon my right hand rise the rabble; they drive me away and pile up against me their siege mounds.
They have risen up against [me] on the right hand of [their] offspring; they have stretched out their foot, and directed against me the ways of their destruction.
13 They destroy my path; they push forward disaster for me, men who have no one to hold them back.
My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment: he has shot at me with his weapons.
14 They come against me like an army through a wide hole in a city wall; in the midst of the destruction they roll themselves in on me.
And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is driven away as if by the wind; my prosperity passes away as a cloud.
My pains return upon [me]; my hope is gone like the wind, and my safety as a cloud.
16 Now my life is pouring out from within me; many days of suffering have laid hold on me.
Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me; and days of anguish seize me.
17 In the night my bones in me are pierced; the pains that gnaw at me take no rest.
And by night my bones are confounded; and my sinews are relaxed.
18 God's great force has seized my clothing; it wraps around me like the collar of my tunic.
With great force [my disease] has taken hold of my garment: it has compassed me as the collar of my coat.
19 He has thrown me into the mud; I have become like dust and ashes.
And you have counted me as clay; my portion in dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you, God, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you merely look at me.
And I have cried to you, but you hear me not: but they stood still, and observed me.
21 You have changed and become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you persecute me.
They attacked me also without mercy: you have scourged me with a strong hand.
22 You lift me up to the wind and cause it to drive me along; you throw me back and forth in a storm.
And you have put me to grief, and have cast me away from safety.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all the living.
For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house [appointed] for every mortal.
24 However, does no one reach out with his hand to beg for help when he falls? Does no one in trouble call out for help?
Oh then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another, and he should do this for me.
25 Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Did I not grieve for the needy man?
Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in distress.
26 When I hoped for good, then evil came; when I waited for light, darkness came instead.
But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the more upon me.
27 My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction have come on me.
My belly boiled, and would not cease: the days of poverty prevented me.
28 I have gone about like one who was living in the dark, but not because of the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
I went mourning without restraint: and I have stood and cried out in the assembly.
29 I am a brother to jackals, a companion of ostriches.
I am become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is black and falls away from me; my bones are burned with heat.
And my skin has been greatly blackened, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 Therefore my harp is tuned for songs of mourning, my flute for the singing of those who wail.
My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.
