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.

Job 30

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.