Job 30 AMPC

1. BUT NOW they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2. Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished.

3. They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry and barren ground or flee into the wilderness, into the gloom of wasteness and desolation.

4. They pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them.

5. They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief.

6. They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7. Among the bushes they bray and howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together.

8. Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land.

9. And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them.

10. They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me.

11. For God has loosed my bowstring and afflicted and humbled me; they have cast off the bridle [of restraint] before me.

12. On my right hand rises the rabble brood; they jostle me and push away my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction [like an advancing army].

13. They break up and clutter my path [embarrassing my plans]; they urge on my calamity, even though they have no helper [and are themselves helpless].

14. As through a wide breach they come in; amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll themselves upon me.

15. Terrors are turned upon me; my honor and reputation they chase away like the wind, and my welfare has passed away as a cloud.

16. And now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me.

17. My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

18. By the great force [of my disease] my garment is disguised and disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat.

19. [God] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20. I cry to You, [Lord,] and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.

21. You have become harsh and cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.

22. You lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest.

23. For I know that You will bring me to death and to the house [of meeting] appointed for all the living.

24. However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his calamity will he not therefore cry for help?

25. Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor and needy?

26. But when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27. My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction come to meet me.

28. I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the congregation and cry for help.

29. I am a brother to jackals [which howl], and a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].

30. My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat.

31. Therefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.