Job 30
30 “But now they mock me,z
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.a
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they roameda the parched landb
in desolate wastelandsc at night.d
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,e
and their foodb was the root of the broom bush.f
5 They were banished from human society,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.g
7 They brayedh among the bushesi
and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 A base and nameless brood,j
they were driven out of the land.k
9 “And now those young men mock mel in song;m
I have become a bywordn among them.
10 They detest meo and keep their distance;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.p
11 Now that God has unstrung my bowq and afflicted me,r
they throw off restraints in my presence.
12 On my rightt the tribec attacks;
they lay snaresu for my feet,v
they build their siege ramps against me.w
13 They break up my road;x
they succeed in destroying me.y
‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;z
amid the ruins they come rolling in.
my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
my safety vanishes like a cloud.c
16 “And now my life ebbs away;d
days of suffering grip me.e
my gnawing pains never rest.f
18 In his great powerg God becomes like clothing to med;
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,h
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.i
20 “I cry out to you,j God, but you do not answer;k
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;l
with the might of your handm you attack me.n
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;o
you toss me about in the storm.p
23 I know you will bring me down to death,q
to the place appointed for all the living.r
24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken mans
when he cries for help in his distress.t
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?u
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?v
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.w
27 The churning inside me never stops;x
days of suffering confront me.y
28 I go about blackened,z but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.a
29 I have become a brother of jackals,b
a companion of owls.c
30 My skin grows blackd and peels;e
my body burns with fever.f
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,g
and my pipeh to the sound of wailing.