Job 30

1 But now they mock  * 30:1 Jb 12:4; Jr 20:7; Lm 3:14  me,

men younger than I am,

whose fathers I would have refused to put

with my sheep dogs.

2 What use to me was the strength of their hands?

Their vigor had left them.

3 Emaciated from poverty and hunger,

they gnawed the dry land,

the desolate wasteland by night.

4 They plucked mallow  * 30:4 Or saltwort,* 30:4 Jb 12:4; Jr 20:7; Lm 3:14 among the shrubs,

and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5 They were banished from human society;

people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

6 They are living on the slopes of the wadis,

among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

7 They bray among the shrubs;

they huddle beneath the thistles.

8 Foolish  * 30:8 Pr 26:7,12; Ec 7:5; Is 32:5–6 men, without even a name.

They were forced to leave the land.

9 Now I am mocked by their songs;  * 30:9 Jb 12:4; 30:1; Lm 3:14

I have become an object of scorn to them.

10 They despise me and keep their distance from me;  * 30:10 Jb 19:19; Ps 89:38; Am 5:10

they do not hesitate to spit  * 30:10 Nm 12:14; Is 50:6; Mt 26:67 in my face.

11 Because God has loosened my  * 30:11 Alt Hb tradition, LXX, Vg read his  bowstring and oppressed me,

they have cast off restraint in my presence.  * 30:11 Jb 12:18; 29:20; Ps 32:9

12 The rabble  * 30:12 Hb obscure rise up at my right;

they trap  * 30:12 Lit stretch out my feet

and construct their siege ramp  * 30:12 Lit and raise up their destructive paths against me.  * 30:12 Jb 16:10; 19:12; Ps 140:4–5

13 They tear up my path;

they contribute to my destruction,  * 30:13 Jb 6:2; Ps 57:1; Pr 19:13

without anyone to help them.

14 They advance as through a gaping breach;

they keep rolling in through the ruins.  * 30:14 Jb 16:14; Jl 2:7

15 Terrors  * 30:15 Jb 18:11; 27:20; Ps 73:19 are turned loose against me;

they chase my dignity away like the wind,

and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

16 Now my life is poured out before me,

and days of suffering  * 30:16 Jb 10:15; 30:27; 36:21 have seized me.

17 Night pierces my bones,

but my gnawing pains never rest.  * 30:17 Jb 33:19; Ps 6:2; 38:3

18 My clothing is distorted with great force;

he chokes me by the neck of my garment.  * 30:18 Hb obscure

19 He throws me into the mud,

and I have become like dust and ashes.  * 30:19 Jb 16:15; Ps 7:5; 75:10

20 I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me;  * 30:20 Jb 19:7; Ps 18:41; 88:13–14

when I stand up, you merely look at me.

21 You have turned against me with cruelty;

you harass  * 30:21 Gn 49:23; Jb 16:9; Ps 55:3 me with your strong hand.

22 You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it;

you scatter me in the storm.  * 30:22 Jb 9:17; Ps 83:15; Jnh 1:4

23 Yes, I know that you will lead me to death —

the place  * 30:23 Jb 3:15; 17:13; Ec 12:5 appointed for all who live.

24 Yet no one would stretch out his hand

against a ruined person  * 30:24 Lit a heap of ruins

when he cries out to him for help

because of his distress.  * 30:24 Jb 12:5; 31:29; Pr 24:22

25 Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times?

Has my soul not grieved for the needy?  * 30:25 Jb 5:15; 24:4,14; 31:19

26 But when I hoped for good, evil came;

when I looked for light, darkness  * 30:26 Jb 19:8; Is 59:9; Lm 3:2  came.

27 I am churning within  * 30:27 Lit My bowels boil and cannot rest;

days of suffering confront me.

28 I walk about blackened, but not by the sun.  * 30:28 Or walk in sunless gloom

I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.

29 I have become a brother to jackals

and a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin blackens and flakes off,  * 30:30 Lit blackens away from me

and my bones burn with fever.  * 30:30 Ps 102:3; Lm 4:8; 5:10

31 My lyre is used for mourning

and my flute for the sound of weeping.  * 30:31 Is 24:8; Ezk 26:13; Mt 11:17