Job 30

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

But now, those younger in years scorn me, whose fathers I would not have seen fit to place with the dogs of my flock,

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

the strength of whose hands was nothing to me, and they were considered unworthy of life itself.

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

They were barren from poverty and hunger; they gnawed in solitude, layered with misfortune and misery.

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

And they chewed grass and the bark from trees, and the root of junipers was their food.

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

They took these things from the steep valleys, and when they discovered one of these things, they rushed to the others with a cry.

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

They lived in the parched desert and in caves underground or above the rocks.

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

They rejoiced among these kinds of things, and they considered it delightful to be under thorns.

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

These are the sons of foolish and base men, not even paying any attention to the land.

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

Now I become their song, and I have been made into their proverb.

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

They loathe me, and so they flee far from me, and they are not reluctant to spit in my face.

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

For he has opened his quiver and has afflicted me, and he has placed a bridle in my mouth.

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

Immediately, upon rising, my calamities rise up to the right. They have overturned my feet and have pressed me down along their way like waves.

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

They have diverted my journeys; they have waited to ambush me, and they have prevailed, and there was no one who might bring help.

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

They have rushed upon me, as when a wall is broken or a gate opened, and they have been pulled down into my miseries.

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

I have been reduced to nothing. You have taken away my desire like a wind, and my health has passed by like a cloud.

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

But now my soul withers within myself, and the days of affliction take hold of me.

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

At night, my bone is pierced with sorrows, and those who feed on me, do not sleep.

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

By the sheer number of them my clothing is worn away, and they have closed in on me like the collar of my coat.

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

I have been treated like dirt, and I have been turned into embers and ashes.

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

I cry to you, and you do not heed me. I stand up, and you do not look back at me.

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

You have changed me into hardness, and, with the hardness of your hand, you oppose me.

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

You have lifted me up, and, placing me as if on the wind, you have thrown me down powerfully.

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

I know that you will hand me over to death, where a home has been established for all the living.

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

Truly, then, you do not extend your hand in order to consume them, and if they fall down, you will save them.

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

Once, I wept over him who was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.

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

I expected good things, but evil things have come to me. I stood ready for light, yet darkness burst forth.

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

My insides have seethed, without any rest, for the days of affliction have prevented it.

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

I went forth mourning, without anger, and rising up, I cried out in confusion.

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

I was the brother of snakes, and the companion of ostriches.

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

My skin has become blackened over me, and my bones have dried up because of the heat.

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

My harp has been turned into mourning, and my pipes have been turned into a voice of weeping.