Job 30

¹But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:

²The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.

³Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.

⁴And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.

⁵Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.

⁶They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.

⁷They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.

⁸The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.

⁹Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.

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

¹¹For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.

¹²At 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.

¹³They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.

¹⁴They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.

¹⁵I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.

¹⁷In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.

¹⁸With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.

¹⁹I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.

²⁰I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.

²¹Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.

²²Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.

²³I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.

²⁴But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.

²⁵I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.

²⁶I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.

²⁷My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.

²⁸I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.

²⁹I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.

³¹My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.

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.