Job 30

1 “But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.

2 What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them?

3 Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.

4 They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5 They were banished from among men, shouted at like thieves,

6 so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

7 They cried out among the shrubs and huddled beneath the nettles.

8 A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.

9 And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.

10 They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

11 Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12 The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.

13 They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.

14 They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.

15 Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.

17 Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.

18 With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.

19 He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.

21 You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.

22 You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.

23 Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

24 Yet no one stretches out his hand against a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.

25 Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

26 But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.

27 I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.

28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.

31 My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.

1 ¶ But 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.

2 Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age was perished?

3 For want and famine [they were] solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their meat.

5 They were driven forth from among [men], (they cried after them as [after] a thief;)

6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

8 [They were] children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

12 Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

14 They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the desolation they rolled themselves [upon me].

15 ¶ Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

18 By the great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].

21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and dissolvest my substance.

23 For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to] death, and [to] the house appointed for all living.

24 Howbeit he will not stretch out [his] hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my soul grieved for the poor?

26 When I looked for good, then evil came [unto me]: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, [and] I cried in the congregation.

29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

1 But now laugh at mine that are younger than I, whose fathers I would have despised, to put among my sheep,

2 which fortunes I thought were nothing, which could not come to old age,

3 Who from hunger and grief fled lonely into the wilderness, and were lately corrupted and made miserable,

4 Who plucked up nettles round about the bushes, and juniper root was their meat;

5 And when they plucked them out, they rejoiced over them as a thief.

6 By the cruel brooks they dwelt, in the holes of the earth, and in the clefts of the stones.

7 Among the bushes they called, and among the thistles they gathered,

8 The children of loose and despised people, who were the least in the land.

9 Now am I become their strings, and must be their tale.

10 They have abhorred me, and have put themselves far from me, and have not spared to spit before my face.

11 They have unloosed my rope, and made me of none strength, and have cut off mine own.

12 On the right hand, when I was green, they set me again, and thrust out my foot; and made a way over me to destroy me.

13 They have broken my staves: it was so easy for them to hurt me, that they needed no help to do it.

14 They are come in, as to the wide breach, and are fallen down without order.

15 Terror hath turned itself against me, and hath pursued as the wind my glory, and as a running cloud my blessed estate.

16 But now my soul poureth out upon me, and the wretched time hath taken hold upon me.

17 In the night my bones are pierced in every place, and they that hunt me lie not down.

18 By the multitude of strength I am clothed differently and differently; and I am girded therewith as with the hole of my skirt.

19 I have been trodden in dung, and counted as dust and ashes.

20 If I cry unto thee, thou answerest me not: if I come forth, thou regardest me not.

21 Thou art turned unto me into a cruel man, and showest thy grief upon me with the strength of thine hand.

22 Thou liftest me up, and makest me to run on the wind, and makest me to melt.

23 For I know that thou wilt deliver me to death: there is the appointed house of all the living.

24 But he shall not stretch forth his hand into the charnel house, neither shall they cry out because of his destruction.

25 For I wept in the hard time, and my soul mourned for the poor.

26 I waited for good, and evil cometh: I hoped for light, and darkness cometh.

27 My bowels boil, and cease not: the wretched time hath overtaken me.

28 I walk in black, and yet no sun burneth me: I stand up in the congregation, and cry.

29 I am a brother of serpents and a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin is blackened above me, and my bones are withered from the heat.

31 My harp is become a lamentation, and my pipe a weeping.