< Job 30 >
1 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.
But now [they that are] younger than I, have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Also — the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them hath old age perished.
Yes, to what [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age had perished?
3 With want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste,
For want and famine [they were] solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4 Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And broom-roots [is] their food.
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their food.
5 From the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief),
They were driven forth from among [men], (they cried after them, as [after] a thief; )
6 In a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts.
To dwell in the clefts of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks.
7 Among shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together.
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were collected.
8 Sons of folly — even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.
[They were] children of fools, yes, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9 And now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword.
And now I am their song, yes, I am their by-word.
10 They have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 Because His cord He loosed and afflicteth me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12 On the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.
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 have broken down my path, By my calamity they profit, 'He hath no helper.'
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
14 As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the desolation they rolled themselves [upon me].
15 He hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.
Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
16 And now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction.
And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down.
My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
18 By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me.
By the great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 Casting me into mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.
I cry to thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].
21 Thou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppressest me.
Thou hast become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22 Thou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest — Thou levellest me.
Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and dissolvest my substance.
23 For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And [to] the house appointed for all living.
For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to] death, and [to] the house appointed for all living.
24 Surely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.
Yet he will not stretch out [his] hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
25 Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy.
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.
When I looked for good, then evil came: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction.
My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction came upon me.
28 Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.
I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, [and] I cried in the congregation.
29 A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30 My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.
My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.