Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 30 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


30:1  But those far younger than I am now laugh at me— men whose fathers I would not have allowed to serve with my sheepdogs.
30:2  The strength of their hands was useless to me. Their vigor had failed.
30:3  Emaciated from famine and hunger, they gnawed desert plants in the desolate wasteland.
30:4  They picked marsh plants among the brush, and their food was the roots of broom bushes.
30:5  They were driven out of the community. People shouted at them like thieves.
30:6  They lived in dry streambeds, in holes among the dust and the rocks.
30:7  They brayed between shrubs, and they huddled under thorn bushes.
30:8  Sons of fools and nameless nobodies, they were driven out of the land with whips.
30:9  But now I am the target of their mocking songs, and my name has become proverbial as a term of scorn.
30:10  They despise me and keep their distance. They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
30:11  God has unhooked my bowstring, and he has afflicted me, so they throw off all restraint in my presence.
30:12  At my right hand this rabble rises up like a mob. They trip my feet. They besiege me with their plans to destroy me.
30:13  They cut off my path to escape. They try to benefit from my destruction. They need no one to help them.
30:14  They pour through the breach in my wall. They roll in through the ruins.
30:15  Terrors are unleashed against me. My prestige is blown away by the wind. My security has passed by like a cloud.
30:16  Now my soul is being poured out within me. Days of suffering have seized me.
30:17  Night pierces my bones with pain. The pain gnawing at me never stops.
30:18  God tugs violently at my clothing. He chokes me like the collar of my robe.
30:19  He has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.
30:20  I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me. Whenever I stand up, you pay no attention to me.
30:21  You have become cruel to me. With a strong hand you assault me.
30:22  You lift me up with the wind, and it carries me away. You scatter me in the raging storm.
30:23  Yes, I know that you are bringing me down to death, to the home where all the living meet.
30:24  Will he really stretch out his hand against a pile of ruins, when the ruined man screams for help?
30:25  Didn’t I weep for those who live through hard days? Didn’t my soul grieve for the needy?
30:26  But when I waited for good, evil came. When I hoped for light, darkness came.
30:27  My emotions are boiling over. They are never quiet. Days of suffering confront me.
30:28  I walk around darkened, but not by the sun. I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
30:29  I have become a brother to jackals, a companion for screeching ostriches.
30:30  My skin turns black and falls off, and my bones burn with fever.
30:31  My lyre plays only sad songs. My flute accompanies only the sound of weeping.