איוב 30

1 ועתה שחקו עלי-- צעירים ממני לימים אשר-מאסתי אבותם-- לשית עם-כלבי צאני

But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 גם-כח ידיהם למה לי עלימו אבד כלח

Yea, the strength of their hands, to what should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished.

3 בחסר ובכפן גלמוד הערקים ציה--אמש שואה ומשאה

They are gaunt with want and famine. They gnaw the dry ground in the gloom of waste and desolation.

4 הקטפים מלוח עלי-שיח ושרש רתמים לחמם

They pluck mallows by the bushes, and the roots of the juniper are their food.

5 מן-גו יגרשו יריעו עלימו כגנב

They are driven forth from the midst of men. They cry out after them as after a thief,

6 בערוץ נחלים לשכן חרי עפר וכפים

so that they dwell in frightful valleys, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7 בין-שיחים ינהקו תחת חרול יספחו

Among the bushes they bray, under the nettles they are gathered together.

8 בני-נבל גם-בני בלי-שם-- נכאו מן-הארץ

They are sons of fools, yea, sons of base men. They were scourged out of the land.

9 ועתה נגינתם הייתי ואהי להם למלה

And now I have become their song, Yea, I am a byword to them.

10 תעבוני רחקו מני ומפני לא-חשכו רק

They abhor me. They stand aloof from me, and do not spare to spit in my face.

11 כי-יתרו (יתרי) פתח ויענני ורסן מפני שלחו

For he has loosed his cord, and afflicted me. And they have cast off the bridle before me.

12 על-ימין פרחח יקומו רגלי שלחו ויסלו עלי ארחות אידם

Upon my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13 נתסו נתיבתי להותי יעילו לא עזר למו

They mar my path. They set forward my calamity, even men who have no helper.

14 כפרץ רחב יאתיו תחת שאה התגלגלו

As through a wide breach they come. In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.

15 ההפך עלי בלהות תרדף כרוח נדבתי וכעב עברה ישעתי

Terrors are turned upon me. They chase my honor as the wind, and my welfare is passed away as a cloud.

16 ועתה--עלי תשתפך נפשי יאחזוני ימי-עני

And now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 לילה--עצמי נקר מעלי וערקי לא ישכבון

In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

18 ברב-כח יתחפש לבושי כפי כתנתי יאזרני

By the great force my garment is disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

19 הרני לחמר ואתמשל כעפר ואפר

He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 אשוע אליך ולא תענני עמדתי ותתבנן בי

I cry to thee, and thou do not answer me. I stand up, and thou gaze at me.

21 תהפך לאכזר לי בעצם ידך תשטמני

Thou have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of thy hand thou persecute me.

22 תשאני אל-רוח תרכיבני ותמגגני תשוה (תשיה)

Thou lift me up to the wind. Thou cause me to ride upon it, and thou disintegrate me in the storm.

23 כי-ידעתי מות תשיבני ובית מועד לכל-חי

For I know that thou will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

24 אך לא-בעי ישלח-יד אם-בפידו להן שוע

However does not a man stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

25 אם-לא בכיתי לקשה-יום עגמה נפשי לאביון

Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26 כי טוב קויתי ויבא רע ואיחלה לאור ויבא אפל

When I looked for good, then evil came. And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 מעי רתחו ולא-דמו קדמני ימי-עני

My heart is troubled, and does not rest. Days of affliction have come upon me.

28 קדר הלכתי בלא חמה קמתי בקהל אשוע

I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

29 אח הייתי לתנים ורע לבנות יענה

I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.

30 עורי שחר מעלי ועצמי-חרה מני-חרב

My skin is black, and falls from me. And my bones are burned with heat.

31 ויהי לאבל כנרי ועגבי לקול בכים

Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.