Job 30

1 But now the youngest have laughed me to scorn, now they reprove me in [their] turn, whose fathers I set at nought; whom I did not deem worthy [to be with] my shepherd dogs.

“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.

2 Yea, why had I the strength of their hands? for them the full term [of life] was lost.

Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?

3 [One is] childless in want and famine, [such as] they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.

They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.

4 Who compass the salt places on the sounding [shore], who had salt [herbs] for their food, and were dishonorable and of no repute, in want of every good thing; who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger.

They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom tree are their food.

5 Thieves have risen up against me,

They are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief,

6 whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild shrubs.

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

7 They will cry out among the rustling [bushes].

They bray among the bushes. They are gathered together under the nettles.

8 [They are] sons of fools and vile men, [whose] name and glory [are] quenched from off the earth.

They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men. They were flogged out of the land.

9 But now I am their music, and they have me for a by-word.

“Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.

10 And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my face.

They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.

11 For he has opened his quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off the restraint of my presence.

For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.

12 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.

On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet. They cast their ways of destruction up against me.

13 My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment: he has shot at me with his weapons.

They mar my path. They promote my destruction without anyone’s help.

14 And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains.

As through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin.

15 My pains return upon [me]; my hope is gone like the wind, and my safety as a cloud.

Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

16 Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me; and days of anguish seize me.

“Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17 And by night my bones are confounded; and my sinews are relaxed.

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

18 With great force [my disease] has taken hold of my garment: it has compassed me as the collar of my coat.

My garment is disfigured by great force. It binds me about as the collar of my tunic.

19 And thou hast counted me as clay; my portion in dust and ashes.

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

20 And I have cried to thee, but thou hearest me not: but they stood still, and observed me.

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

21 They attacked me also without mercy: thou hast scourged me with a strong hand.

You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

22 And thou hast put me to grief, and hast cast me away from safety.

You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

23 For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house [appointed] for every mortal.

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

24 Oh then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another, and he should do this for me.

“However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

25 Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in distress.

Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?

26 But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the more upon me.

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

27 My belly boiled, and would not cease: the days of poverty prevented me.

My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

28 I went mourning without restraint: and I have stood and cried out in the assembly.

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

29 I am become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches.

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

30 And my skin has been greatly blackened, and my bones are burned with heat.

My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.

31 My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.

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