Job 30:1-31 ERV

[1] "But now men younger than I make fun of me- men whose fathers were too worthless to put with my sheep dogs. [2] Their fathers are still too weak to be of any use to me. All their strength is gone. [3] They are starving with nothing to eat, so they chew on the dry, ruined land. [4] They pull up salt plants in the desert and eat the roots from the broom tree. [5] They are forced away from other people, who shout at them as if they were thieves. [6] They must live in the dry riverbeds, hillside caves, and holes in the ground. [7] They howl in the bushes and huddle together under thornbushes. [8] They are a bunch of worthless people without names, who were forced to leave their country. [9] "Now their sons sing songs to make fun of me. My name has become a bad word to them. [10] They hate me and stay far away from me, except when they come to spit in my face! [11] God has taken the string from my bow and made me weak, so they feel free to do whatever they want to me. [12] They attack me on my right side. They knock my feet out from under me. They build ramps to attack and destroy me like a city. [13] They guard the road so that I cannot escape. They succeed in destroying me, without help from anyone. [14] They break a hole in the wall and come rushing through it, and the crashing rocks fall on me. [15] I am shaking with fear. They chased my honor away like dust in the wind. My safety disappears like a cloud. [16] "Now my life is almost gone, and soon I will die. Days of suffering have grabbed me. [17] All my bones ache at night. Pain never stops chewing on me. [18] God grabbed the collar of my coat and twisted my clothes out of shape. [19] He threw me into the mud, and I became like dust and ashes. [20] "God, I cry out to you for help, but you don't answer. I stand up and pray, but you don't pay attention to me. [21] You have become cruel to me; you use your power to hurt me. [22] You let the strong wind blow me away. You throw me around in the storm. [23] I know you will lead me to my death, to that place where all the living must go. [24] "Surely no one would attack a man who is already ruined, when he is hurt and crying for help. [25] God, you know that I cried for those who were in trouble. You know that I mourned for the poor. [26] But when I hoped for good, trouble came instead. When I looked for light, darkness came. [27] I constantly feel upset. And my suffering has only just begun. [28] I am always sad and depressed, without any relief. I stand up in the public meeting and cry for help, [29] making sad sounds like the wild dogs, like the ostriches in the desert. [30] My skin is burned and peeling away. My body is hot with fever. [31] My harp is tuned to play songs of sorrow. My flute makes sad sounds like someone crying.