Job 30
1 But now the youngest have laughed me to scorn,
now they reprove me in their turn,
whose fathers I set at nought;
whom I did not deem worthy to be with my shepherd dogs.
2 Yea, why had I the strength of their hands?
for them the full term of life was lost.
3 One is childless in want and famine,
such as they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.
4 Who compass the salt places on the sounding shore,
who had salt herbs for their food,
and were dishonourable and of no repute, in want of every good thing;
who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger.
5 Thieves have risen up against me,
6 whose houses were the caves of the rocks,
who lived under the wild shrubs.
7 They will cry out among the rustling bushes.
8 They are sons of fools and vile men,
whose name and glory are quenched from off the earth.
9 But now I am their music,
and they have me for a by-word.
10 And they stood aloof and abhorred me,
and spared not to spit in my face.
11 For he hath opened his quiver and afflicted me:
they also have cast off the restraint of my presence.
12 They have risen up against me on the right hand of their offspring;
they have stretched out their foot, and directed against me the ways of their destruction.
13 My paths are ruined;
for they have stripped off my raiment:
he hath shot at me with his weapons.
14 And he hath pleaded against me as he will:
I am overwhelmed with pains.
15 My pains return upon me;
my hope is gone like the wind,
and my safety as a cloud.
16 Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me;
and days of anguish seize me.
17 And by night my bones are confounded;
and my sinews are relaxed.
18 With great force my disease hath taken hold of my garment:
it hath compassed me as the collar of my coat.
19 And thou hast counted me as clay;
my portion is in dust and ashes.
20 And I have cried to thee, but thou hearest me not:
but they stood still, and observed me.
21 They attacked me also without mercy:
thou hast scourged me with a strong hand.
22 And thou hast put me to grief,
and hast cast me away from safety.
23 For I know that death will destroy me:
for the earth is the house appointed for every mortal.
24 O then that I might lay hands upon myself,
or at least ask another, and he should do this for me.
25 Yet I wept over every helpless man;
I groaned when I saw a man in distress.
26 But I, when I waited for good things,
behold, days of evils came the more upon me.
27 My belly boiled, and would not cease:
the days of poverty prevented me.
28 I went mourning without restraint:
and I have stood and cried out in the assembly.
29 I am become a brother of [1]monsters,
and a companion of ostriches.
30 And my skin hath been greatly blackened,
and my bones [2]are burned with heat.
31 My harp also hath been turned into mourning,
and my song into my weeping.