Job – Chapter 30
1But now they hold me in derision
Whose fathers I should have disdained
to rank with the dogs of my flock.
2Such strength as they had meant nothing to me;
their vigor had perished.
3In want and emaciating hunger
they fled to the parched lands:
to the desolate wasteland by night.
4They plucked saltwort and shrubs;
the roots of the broom plant were their food.
5They were banished from the community,
with an outcry like that against a thief—
6To dwell on the slopes of the wadies,
in caves of sand and stone;
7Among the bushes they brayed;
under the nettles they huddled together.
8Irresponsible, of no account,
they were driven out of the land.
9Yet now they sing of me in mockery;
I have become a byword among them.
10They abhor me, they stand aloof,
they do not hesitate to spit in my face!
11 Because he has loosened my bowstring and afflicted me,
they have thrown off restraint in my presence.
12On my right the young rabble rise up;
they trip my feet,
they build their approaches for my ruin.
13They tear up my path,
they promote my ruin,
no helper is there against them.
14As through a wide breach they advance;
amid the uproar they come on in waves;
15terrors roll over me.
My dignity is driven off like the wind,
and my well-being vanishes like a cloud.
16And now my life ebbs away from me,
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 At night he pierces my bones,
my sinews have no rest.
18With great difficulty I change my clothes,
the collar of my tunic fits around my waist.
19He has cast me into the mire;
I have become like dust and ashes.
20I cry to you, but you do not answer me;
I stand, but you take no notice.
21You have turned into my tormentor,
and with your strong hand you attack me.
22You raise me up and drive me before the wind;
I am tossed about by the tempest.
23Indeed I know that you will return me to death
to the house destined for everyone alive.
24Yet should not a hand be held out
to help a wretched person in distress?
25Did I not weep for the hardships of others;
was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26Yet when I looked for good, evil came;
when I expected light, darkness came.
27My inward parts seethe and will not be stilled;
days of affliction have overtaken me.
28I go about in gloom, without the sun;
I rise in the assembly and cry for help.
29I have become a brother to jackals,
a companion to ostriches.
30My blackened skin falls away from me;
my very frame is scorched by the heat.
31My lyre is tuned to mourning,
and my reed pipe to sounds of weeping.
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