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.
“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 Indeed, the strength of their fathers' hands, how could it have helped me— men in whom the strength of their mature age had perished?
Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished.
3 They were thin from poverty and hunger; they gnawed at the dry ground in the darkness of wilderness and desolation.
With want and with harsh famine, They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, [In] desolation and ruin,
4 They plucked saltwort and bushes' leaves; the roots of the broom tree were their food.
Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And their food [is] root of broom trees.
5 They were driven out from among people who shouted after them as one would shout after a thief.
They are cast out from the midst (They shout against them as a thief),
6 So they had to live in river valleys, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
To dwell in a frightful place of valleys, Holes of earth and clefts.
7 Among the bushes they brayed like donkeys and they gathered together under the nettles.
They groan among shrubs, They are gathered together under nettles.
8 They were the sons of fools, indeed, sons of nameless people! They were driven out of the land with whips.
Sons of folly—even sons without name, They have been struck from the land.
9 But now I have become the subject of their taunting song; I have become a byword for them.
And now, I have been their song, And I am to them for a byword.
10 They abhor me and stand far off from me; they do not refrain from spitting in my face.
They have detested me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.
11 For God has unstrung the string to my bow and afflicted me, and those who taunt me cast off restraint before my face.
Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
12 Upon my right hand rise the rabble; they drive me away and pile up against me their siege mounds.
A brood arises on the right hand, They have cast away my feet, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.
13 They destroy my path; they push forward disaster for me, men who have no one to hold them back.
They have broken down my path, They profit by my calamity: He has no helper.
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.
They come as a wide breach, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is driven away as if by the wind; my prosperity passes away as a cloud.
He has turned terrors against me, It pursues my abundance as the wind, And as a thick cloud, My safety has passed away.
16 Now my life is pouring out from within me; many days of suffering have laid hold on me.
And now, in me my soul pours itself out, Days of affliction seize me.
17 In the night my bones in me are pierced; the pains that gnaw at me take no rest.
[At] night my bone has been pierced in me, And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down.
18 God's great force has seized my clothing; it wraps around me like the collar of my tunic.
By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it girds me.
19 He has thrown me into the mud; I have become like dust and ashes.
Casting me into mire, And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you, God, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you merely look at me.
I cry to You, And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me.
21 You have changed and become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you persecute me.
You are turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Your hand, You oppress me.
22 You lift me up to the wind and cause it to drive me along; you throw me back and forth in a storm.
You lift me up, You cause me to ride on the wind, And You melt—You level me.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all the living.
For I have known You bring me back [to] death, And [to] the house appointed for all living.
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?
Surely not against the heap Does He send forth the hand, Though they have safety in its ruin.
25 Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Did I not grieve for the needy man?
Did I not weep for him whose day is hard? My soul has grieved for the needy.
26 When I hoped for good, then evil came; when I waited for light, darkness came instead.
When I expected good, then comes evil, And I wait for light, and darkness comes.
27 My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction have come on me.
My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Days of affliction have gone before 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 have gone mourning without the sun, I have risen, I cry in an assembly.
29 I am a brother to jackals, a companion of ostriches.
I have been a brother to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30 My skin is black and falls away from me; my bones are burned with heat.
My skin has been black on me, And my bone has burned from heat,
31 Therefore my harp is tuned for songs of mourning, my flute for the singing of those who wail.
And my harp becomes mourning, And my pipe the sound of weeping.”
