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30 “But now, those who are younger than me, mock me, those whose fathers I have refused to set with the dogs of my flocks.

“For how should the strength of their hands have served me? Vigor perished in them.

“They were hard from poverty and famine, fleeing into the wilderness, dark, desolate and waste.

“They cut up nettles by the bushes, and the juniper root was their food.

“They were chased forth from among men. They shouted at them, as at a thief.

“Therefore they dwelt in the clefts of rivers, in the holes of the earth and rocks.

“They roared among the bushes, and under the thistles they gathered themselves.

“They were the children of fools, and the children of villains, who were scourged from the Earth.

“And now am I their song, and I am their talk.

10 “They abhor me, flee far from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.

11 “Because He has loosed His cord and humbled me. They have loosed the bridle before me.

12 “The youth rise up at my right hand. They have pushed away my feet and have built upon me the paths of their destruction.

13 “They have destroyed my paths. They took pleasure in my calamity. They had no help.

14 “They came as a great breach. Under this calamity they come in waves.

15 “Fear is turned upon me. They pursue my soul as the wind, and my health passes away as a cloud.

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

17 “It pierces my bones in the night, and my sinews take no rest.

18 “Through great force is my garment changed, surrounding me as the collar of my coat.

19 “He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like ashes and dust.

20 “When I cry to You, You do not hear me. Nor do You regard me when I stand up.

21 “You turn Yourself cruelly against me and oppose me with the strength of Your Hand.

22 “You take me up, cause me to ride upon the wind, and make my strength fail.

23 “Surely I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all the living.

24 “Yet does not one still stretch his hand from the grave, though he cries in His destruction?

25 “Did not I weep with him who was in trouble? Was not my soul in heaviness for the poor?

26 “Yet when I looked for good, evil came to me. And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 “My bowels boiled without rest. The days of affliction have come upon me.

28 “I went mourning, without Sun. I stood up in the Congregation and cried.

29 “I am a brother to the jackals, and a companion to the ostriches.

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

31 “Therefore, my harp becomes mourning, and my organs the voice of those who weep.”

30 “But now they mock me,(A)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.(B)
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
    since their vigor had gone from them?
Haggard from want and hunger,
    they roamed[a] the parched land(C)
    in desolate wastelands(D) at night.(E)
In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(F)
    and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.(G)
They were banished from human society,
    shouted at as if they were thieves.
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
    among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(H)
They brayed(I) among the bushes(J)
    and huddled in the undergrowth.
A base and nameless brood,(K)
    they were driven out of the land.(L)

“And now those young men mock me(M) in song;(N)
    I have become a byword(O) among them.
10 They detest me(P) and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.(Q)
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow(R) and afflicted me,(S)
    they throw off restraint(T) in my presence.
12 On my right(U) the tribe[c] attacks;
    they lay snares(V) for my feet,(W)
    they build their siege ramps against me.(X)
13 They break up my road;(Y)
    they succeed in destroying me.(Z)
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;(AA)
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors(AB) overwhelm me;(AC)
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.(AD)

16 “And now my life ebbs away;(AE)
    days of suffering grip me.(AF)
17 Night pierces my bones;
    my gnawing pains never rest.(AG)
18 In his great power(AH) God becomes like clothing to me[d];
    he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,(AI)
    and I am reduced to dust and ashes.(AJ)

20 “I cry out to you,(AK) God, but you do not answer;(AL)
    I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;(AM)
    with the might of your hand(AN) you attack me.(AO)
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;(AP)
    you toss me about in the storm.(AQ)
23 I know you will bring me down to death,(AR)
    to the place appointed for all the living.(AS)

24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man(AT)
    when he cries for help in his distress.(AU)
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?(AV)
    Has not my soul grieved for the poor?(AW)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
    when I looked for light, then came darkness.(AX)
27 The churning inside me never stops;(AY)
    days of suffering confront me.(AZ)
28 I go about blackened,(BA) but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(BB)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,(BC)
    a companion of owls.(BD)
30 My skin grows black(BE) and peels;(BF)
    my body burns with fever.(BG)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,(BH)
    and my pipe(BI) to the sound of wailing.

Footnotes

  1. Job 30:3 Or gnawed
  2. Job 30:4 Or fuel
  3. Job 30:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  4. Job 30:18 Hebrew; Septuagint power he grasps my clothing