Job 30

1 “But now those younger than I laugh at me,
Whose fathers I rejected even to put with the dogs of my flock.
2 “Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.
3 “From want and famine they are gaunt,
Who gnaw the dry ground by night in destruction and desolation,
4 Who pluck ^{▼▼Plant of the salt marshes}mallow by the bushes,
And whose food is the root of the broom tree.
5 “They are driven from the community;
They shout against them as against a thief,
6 So that they dwell in the slopes of the ^{▼▼Or wadis}valleys,
In holes of the dust and of the rocks.
7 “Among the bushes they ^{▼▼Or bray}cry out;
Under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 “ ^{▼▼Lit Sons of fools}Wicked fools, even ^{▼▼Lit sons}those without a name,
They were scourged from the land.
9 “And now I have become their mocking song;
I have even become a taunting word to them.
10 “They abhor me and keep a distance from me,
And they do not ^{▼▼Lit withhold spit from my face}hold back from spitting at my face.
11 “Because ^{▼▼Or they}He has loosed ^{▼▼Some mss my}His ^{▼▼Or cord}bowstring and afflicted me,
They have thrust aside their bridle before me.
12 “On the right hand their ^{▼▼Possibly sprout, offspring}brood arises;
They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways to disaster.
13 “They break up my path;
They profit ^{▼▼Lit for}from my destruction;
They have no helper.
14 “As through a wide breach they come,
^{▼▼ Lit Under}Amid the storm they roll on.
15 “Terrors are turned against me;
They pursue my nobility as the wind,
And my hope for salvation has passed away like a cloud.
16 “And now my soul is poured out ^{▼▼Lit upon}within me;
Days of affliction have seized me.
17 “At night it pierces my bones ^{▼▼Lit from upon}within me,
And my gnawing pains take no rest.
18 “By a great force my garment is distorted;
It seizes me about as the collar of my tunic.
19 “He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 “I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You carefully consider how to be against me.
21 “You have ^{▼▼Lit turned to be}become cruel to me;
With the might of Your hand You hunted me down.
22 “You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride;
And You melt me away in a storm.
23 “For I know that You will bring me to death
And to the house of meeting for all living.
24 “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
Or, in his upheaval, is there a cry for help because of them?
25 “Have I not wept for the ^{▼▼Lit hard of day}one whose life is hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 “When I hoped for good, then evil came;
When I waited for light, then thick darkness came.
27 “ ^{▼▼Lit My inward parts are boiling}I am boiling within and cannot be silent;
Days of affliction confront me.
28 “I go about darkened but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
29 “I have become a brother to jackals
And a companion of ostriches.
30 “My skin turns black ^{▼▼Lit from upon}on me,
And my bones burn with ^{▼▼Lit heat}fever.
31 “Therefore my harp ^{▼▼Lit becomes}is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the sound of those who weep.