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30:1  "But now they mock me; men who are far younger than I, whose fathers I would have hated to entrust with my own sheep dogs.
30:2  Furthermore, what could I have gained from men whose strength is gone?
30:3  Unproductive due to poverty and hunger, they could only scratch in parched soil, devastated and desolated.
30:4  "They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat; and roots of the broom shrub for food.
30:5  Driven away from human company, they were shouted at as though they were thieves.
30:6  They lived in the most dangerous of ravines, in holes in the ground, and among rocks.
30:7  They bray like donkeys among the bushes and huddle together under the desert weeds.
30:8  Sons of fools and of uncertain reputation, they have been driven from the land by scourging."
30:9  "Now, I've become the object of their mocking melodies; I'm nothing but a fool's proverb to them!
30:10  They abhor me—they keep their distance from me; but they don't refrain from spitting at the sight of me.
30:11  But God has loosened his cord and afflicted me; so they've cast off all restraints in my presence.
30:12  "A wretched crowd ambushes me to my right; they trip my feet; they build up their path of calamity for me.
30:13  They tear up my pathways; they profit from my destruction, and they need no help to do this!
30:14  They come like those who breach through a wall; as everything crashes around me they'll roll on and on!
30:15  My greatest fears have overcome me; my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm; my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud."
30:16  "Now, my soul pours itself out; the time of my affliction has taken control of me.
30:17  The night racks my bones; and the pain that gnaws on me will not rest.
30:18  My clothes are disheveled by his forceful treatment of me; he restricts my movement like the collar of my cloak.
30:19  "He tossed me into the mire; I've become like dust and ashes.
30:20  I cry for help to you, but you won't answer me; I stand still, but you only look at me.
30:21  You changed toward me, and now you're cruel to me; with your mighty hand you are persecuting me;
30:22  you carried me off in a wind storm, making me ride on it while you toss me about as the storm roars around me.
30:23  I know that you're about to kill me, so I'm about to go to the house that's appointed for all the living."
30:24  "Surely he won't stretch his hand against the needy, will he, especially if they cry to him in their calamity?
30:25  Haven't I wept for the one who is going through hard times? Haven't I grieved for the needy?
30:26  I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came.
30:27  I'm boiling mad inside, and I won't remain silent; the time for my affliction to confront me has arrived.
30:28  "In growing darkness, I walked without sunlight; I stood in the congregation to cry for help.
30:29  I've become a brother to jackals, and a friend to ostriches.
30:30  My skin turns black all over me; and my bones seem burned from the heat.
30:31  But my harp is in mourning; my flute plays only songs for those who are weeping." Job Asserts His Moral Innocence