Job 30
1 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.
But now people much younger than me laugh at me; people whose fathers I would not put to work with my sheepdogs.
2 Yea, whereto [should] the strength of their hands [profit] me, [men] in whom vigour hath perished?
They are too weak to be any use to me; they're all worn-out.
3 Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert:
Thin through hunger and want, they try to eat the dry ground in the dark, desolate wilderness.
4 They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food.
There they pick desert herbs and the leaves of bushes, and eat the roots of broom trees.
5 They are driven forth from among [men] — they cry after them as after a thief —
They were driven out of the community.
6 To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks:
People shouted after them as if they were thieves. They have to live in dangerous ravines, in caves and among the rocks.
7 They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together:
They shout out like animals among the bushes; they huddle together in the weeds for shelter.
8 Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land.
They are foolish, nameless people that have been driven from the land.
9 And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword.
Yet now they mock me in their songs; I have become a joke to them!
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face.
They despise and shun me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face.
11 For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me.
God has made my bowstring loose and humbled me.
12 At [my] right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways;
The rabble rise up against me, they send me running; like a city under siege they devise ways to destroy me.
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them;
They cut off my way of escape; they bring about my downfall and do this without anyone's help.
14 They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.
They come in through a wide breach; they rush in as the wall comes tumbling down.
15 Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud.
Terrors overcome me; my honor is blown away by the wind; my salvation vanishes like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
And now my life is ebbing away; every day despair grips me.
17 The night pierceth through my bones [and detacheth them] from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest:
At night my bones are in agony; the pain gnaws at me and never stops.
18 By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat.
God grabs me roughly by my clothes; he pulls me by the collar of my shirt.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
He has thrown me in the mud; he has humbled me like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me.
God, I cry to you but you don't answer; I stand before you, but you don't even notice me.
21 Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me.
You have turned cruel to me; you use your power to make me suffer.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance.
You pick me up and blow me along in the wind; tossing me about in the whirlwind.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living.
I know you're taking me to my death, to the place where all the living go.
24 Indeed, no prayer [availeth] when he stretcheth out [his] hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.
Who would want to kick a man when he is down, when they cry for help in their time of trouble?
25 Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy?
Didn't I weep for those having hard times? Didn't I grieve at what the poor suffered?
26 For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness.
But when I looked for good, only evil came, and when I waited for the light, all that came was darkness.
27 My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me.
Inside I am in turmoil, it never stops; I face days of despair.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation.
I am so depressed; seeing the sun doesn't help. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
I am like a brother to the jackals, a companion to owls.
30 My skin is become black [and falleth] off me, and my bones are parched with heat.
My skin turns black on me; and my bones burn within me.
31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.
My lyre only plays sad songs, and my pipe is the voice of those who weep.
