Job 30
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:
2 Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished.
The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
3 They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
4 They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food.
And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
5 They are driven forth from the midst [of men]; They cry after them as after a thief;
Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.
They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
7 Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together.
They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
8 [They are] children of fools, yea, children of base men; They were scourged out of the land.
The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
9 And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them.
Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face.
They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
11 For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me.
For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
12 Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.
13 They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, [Even] men that have no helper.
They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
14 As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].
They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest.
In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
18 By [God’s] great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.
I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me.
I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me; With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.
Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride [upon it]; And thou dissolvest me in the storm.
Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
24 Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
26 When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
27 My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me.
My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
28 I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
29 I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.
I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is black, [and falleth] from me, And my bones are burned with heat.
My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
31 Therefore is my harp [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
