Job 30:1–31

Job Speaks of His Anguish

¹“But now I am mocked by people younger than I,

by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs.

²A lot of good they are to me—

those worn-out wretches!

³They are gaunt from poverty and hunger.

They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.

⁴They pluck wild greens from among the bushes

and eat from the roots of broom trees.

⁵They are driven from human society,

and people shout at them as if they were thieves.

⁶So now they live in frightening ravines,

in caves and among the rocks.

⁷They sound like animals howling among the bushes,

huddled together beneath the nettles.

⁸They are nameless fools,

outcasts from society.

⁹“And now they mock me with vulgar songs!

They taunt me!

¹⁰They despise me and won’t come near me,

except to spit in my face.

¹¹For God has cut my bowstring.

He has humbled me,

so they have thrown off all restraint.

¹²These outcasts oppose me to my face.

They send me sprawling

and lay traps in my path.

¹³They block my road

and do everything they can to destroy me.

They know I have no one to help me.

¹⁴They come at me from all directions.

They jump on me when I am down.

¹⁵I live in terror now.

My honor has blown away in the wind,

and my prosperity has vanished like a cloud.

¹⁶“And now my life seeps away.

Depression haunts my days.

¹⁷At night my bones are filled with pain,

which gnaws at me relentlessly.

¹⁸With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt.

He grips me by the collar of my coat.

¹⁹He has thrown me into the mud.

I’m nothing more than dust and ashes.

²⁰“I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer.

I stand before you, but you don’t even look.

²¹You have become cruel toward me.

You use your power to persecute me.

²²You throw me into the whirlwind

and destroy me in the storm.

²³And I know you are sending me to my death—

the destination of all who live.

²⁴“Surely no one would turn against the needy

when they cry for help in their trouble.

²⁵Did I not weep for those in trouble?

Was I not deeply grieved for the needy?

²⁶So I looked for good, but evil came instead.

I waited for the light, but darkness fell.

²⁷My heart is troubled and restless.

Days of suffering torment me.

²⁸I walk in gloom, without sunlight.

I stand in the public square and cry for help.

²⁹Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals

and a companion to owls.

³⁰My skin has turned dark,

and my bones burn with fever.

³¹My harp plays sad music,

and my flute accompanies those who weep.