Job 30:1-31 AMPC

[1] But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. [2] Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished. [3] They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry and barren ground or flee into the wilderness, into the gloom of wasteness and desolation. [4] They pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them. [5] They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief. [6] They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks. [7] Among the bushes they bray and howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together. [8] Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land. [9] And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them. [10] They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me. [11] For God has loosed my bowstring and afflicted and humbled me; they have cast off the bridle [of restraint] before me. [12] On my right hand rises the rabble brood; they jostle me and push away my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction [like an advancing army]. [13] They break up and clutter my path [embarrassing my plans]; they urge on my calamity, even though they have no helper [and are themselves helpless]. [14] As through a wide breach they come in; amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll themselves upon me. [15] Terrors are turned upon me; my honor and reputation they chase away like the wind, and my welfare has passed away as a cloud. [16] And now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me. [17] My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest. [18] By the great force [of my disease] my garment is disguised and disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat. [19] [God] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. [20] I cry to You, [Lord,] and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me. [21] You have become harsh and cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me. [22] You lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest. [23] For I know that You will bring me to death and to the house [of meeting] appointed for all the living. [24] However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his calamity will he not therefore cry for help? [25] Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor and needy? [26] But when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness. [27] My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction come to meet me. [28] I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the congregation and cry for help. [29] I am a brother to jackals [which howl], and a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally]. [30] My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat. [31] Therefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.