Job 30

1 "But now they *See ch. 12:4laugh at me,

men who are *ch. 32:6;[ch. 32:4]younger than I,

whose fathers I would have disdained

to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands,

*For ver. 2-8, see ch. 24:4-8men whose *[ch. 5:26]vigor is gone?

3 Through want and hard hunger

they *[ver. 17] gnaw *Jer. 2:6the dry ground by night in *ch. 38:27;Zeph. 1:15waste and desolation;

4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,

and the roots of the broom tree for their food.*30:4 Or warmth

5 *[1 Sam. 26:19]They are driven out from human company;

they shout after them as after a thief.

6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,

in holes of the earth and of *1 Sam. 13:6;Jer. 4:29the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they *ch. 6:5bray;

under *Prov. 24:31;Zeph. 2:9the nettles they huddle together.

8 A senseless, a nameless brood,

they have been whipped out of the land.

9 "And now I have become their *Ps. 69:12;Lam. 3:14,63song;

I am *See ch. 17:6a byword to them.

10 They *Ps. 88:8;[ch. 17:6] abhor me; they keep aloof from me;

they do not hesitate to *Num. 12:14;Isa. 50:6;Matt. 26:67;27:30spit at the sight of me.

11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,

they have cast off restraint*30:11 Hebrew the bridle in my presence.

12 On my *Ps. 109:6right hand the rabble rise;

they push away my feet;

they *ch. 19:12cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13 They break up my path;

they promote my *ch. 6:2calamity;

they need no one to help them.

14 As through a wide *ch. 16:14breach they come;

amid the crash they roll on.

15 *See ch. 18:11Terrors are turned upon me;

my honor is pursued as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed away like *ch. 7:9;Isa. 44:22a cloud.

16 "And now my soul is *1 Sam. 1:15;[ch. 10:1]poured out within me;

days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17 *[ch. 7:3] The night *ch. 33:19racks my bones,

and the pain that *ver. 3gnaws me takes no rest.

18 With great force my garment is *[1 Sam. 28:8;1 Kgs. 20:38]disfigured;

it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19 God*30:19 Hebrew He has cast me into the mire,

and I have become like *ch. 42:6;[Gen. 18:27]dust and ashes.

20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;

I stand, and you only look at me.

21 You have *Lam. 4:3;[Isa. 63:10] turned cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you *ch. 16:9persecute me.

22 *[ch. 27:21]You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,

and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

23 *ch. 19:25For I know that you will bring me to death

and to the house appointed for *ch. 28:21all living.

24 "Yet does not one in a *Ps. 79:1;Jer. 26:18;Mic. 1:6;3:12heap of ruins stretch out his hand,

and in his disaster cry for help?*30:24 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

25 Did not I *Ps. 35:13,14;Rom. 12:15weep for him whose day was hard?

Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26 But *Jer. 8:15;14:19when I hoped for good, evil came,

and when I waited for light, *ch. 10:21,22darkness came.

27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;

days of affliction *2 Sam. 22:6;Ps. 18:5come to meet me.

28 I *Ps. 38:6;42:9;43:2go about darkened, but not by the sun;

I stand up in *Prov. 26:26the assembly and cry for help.

29 I am a brother of *Mic. 1:8jackals

and a companion of *Isa. 13:21;34:13;Jer. 50:39;Mic. 1:8ostriches.

30 My *[Ps. 119:83;Lam. 4:8;5:10] skin turns black and falls from me,

and my *Ps. 102:3bones burn with heat.

31 My *ch. 21:12lyre is *Lam. 5:15turned to mourning,

and my *ch. 21:12pipe to the voice of those who weep.