Job 30
1But now, those younger in years scorn me, whose fathers I would not have seen fit to place with the dogs of my flock,
2the strength of whose hands was nothing to me, and they were considered unworthy of life itself.
3They were barren from poverty and hunger; they gnawed in solitude, layered with misfortune and misery.
4And they chewed grass and the bark from trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
5They took these things from the steep valleys, and when they discovered one of these things, they rushed to the others with a cry.
6They lived in the parched desert and in caves underground or above the rocks.
7They rejoiced among these kinds of things, and they considered it delightful to be under thorns.
8These are the sons of foolish and base men, not even paying any attention to the land.
9Now I become their song, and I have been made into their proverb.
10They loathe me, and so they flee far from me, and they are not reluctant to spit in my face.
11For he has opened his quiver and has afflicted me, and he has placed a bridle in my mouth.
12Immediately, upon rising, my calamities rise up to the right. They have overturned my feet and have pressed me down along their way like waves.
13They have diverted my journeys; they have waited to ambush me, and they have prevailed, and there was no one who might bring help.
14They have rushed upon me, as when a wall is broken or a gate opened, and they have been pulled down into my miseries.
15I have been reduced to nothing. You have taken away my desire like a wind, and my health has passed by like a cloud.
16But now my soul withers within myself, and the days of affliction take hold of me.
17At night, my bone is pierced with sorrows, and those who feed on me, do not sleep.
18By the sheer number of them my clothing is worn away, and they have closed in on me like the collar of my coat.
19I have been treated like dirt, and I have been turned into embers and ashes.
20I cry to you, and you do not heed me. I stand up, and you do not look back at me.
21You have changed me into hardness, and, with the hardness of your hand, you oppose me.
22You have lifted me up, and, placing me as if on the wind, you have thrown me down powerfully.
23I know that you will hand me over to death, where a home has been established for all the living.
24Truly, then, you do not extend your hand in order to consume them, and if they fall down, you will save them.
25Once, I wept over him who was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
26I expected good things, but evil things have come to me. I stood ready for light, yet darkness burst forth.
27My insides have seethed, without any rest, for the days of affliction have prevented it.
28I went forth mourning, without anger, and rising up, I cried out in confusion.
29I was the brother of snakes, and the companion of ostriches.
30My skin has become blackened over me, and my bones have dried up because of the heat.
31My harp has been turned into mourning, and my pipes have been turned into a voice of weeping.
1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
6To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.