Job 30:1-31 (New American Standard)

Job's Present State Is Humiliating

1 "But now those younger than I ¹mock me, Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. 2 "Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me? Vigor had perished from them. 3 "From want and famine they are gaunt Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation, 4 Who pluck ^amallow by the bushes, And whose food is the root of the broom shrub. 5 "They are driven from the community ; They shout against them as against a thief, 6 So that they dwell in dreadful ^bvalleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks. 7 "Among the bushes they ^ccry out; Under the nettles they are gathered together. 8 "^dFools , even ^ethose without a name, They were scourged from the land. 9 "And now I have become their ^f2taunt, I have even become a ³byword to them. 10 "They abhor me and stand aloof from me, And they do not ^grefrain from ⁴spitting at my face. 11 "Because ^hHe has loosed ⁱHis ^jbowstring and ⁵afflicted me, They have cast off ⁶the bridle before me. 12 "On the right hand their ^kbrood arises ; They ⁷thrust aside my feet ⁸and build up against me their ways of destruction. 13 "They ⁹break up my path, They profit ^lfrom my destruction ; No one restrains them. 14 "As through a wide breach they come, ^mAmid the tempest they roll on. 15 "¹⁰Terrors are turned against me; They pursue my ⁿhonor as the wind, And my ^oprosperity has passed away ¹¹like a cloud. 16 "And now ¹²my soul is poured out ^pwithin me; Days of affliction have seized me. 17 "At night it pierces ¹³my bones ^qwithin me, And my gnawing pains take no rest. 18 "By a great force my garment is ¹⁴distorted ; It binds me about as the collar of my coat. 19 "He has cast me into the ¹⁵mire, And I have become like dust and ashes. 20 "I ¹⁶cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me. 21 "You have ^rbecome cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You ¹⁷persecute me. 22 "You ¹⁸lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride ; And You dissolve me in a storm. 23 "For I know that You ¹⁹will bring me to death And to the ²⁰house of meeting for all living. 24 "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, Or in his disaster therefore ²¹cry out for help ? 25 "Have I not ²²wept for the ^sone whose life is hard ? Was not my soul grieved for ²³the needy ? 26 "When I ²⁴expected good, then evil came ; When I waited for light, ²⁵then darkness came. 27 "^tI am seething ²⁶within and cannot relax ; Days of affliction confront me. 28 "I go about ^u27mourning without comfort; I stand up in the assembly and ²⁸cry out for help. 29 "I have become a brother to ²⁹jackals And a companion of ostriches . 30 "My ³⁰skin turns black ^von me, And my ³¹bones burn with ^wfever. 31 "Therefore my ³²harp ^xis turned to mourning, And my flute to the sound of those who weep.