Job Chapter 30
30:1“But now people younger than me make fun of me,
people whose fathers I wouldn’t let
run with my sheep dogs.
2 What good was their strength to me,
fellows whose vigor was gone?
3 They were haggard from hunger and want
and clawed the dry ground in the wastelands.
4 They picked wild greens from among the bushes
and ate the roots of broom shrubs.
5 People drove them away;
they shouted at them like they were thieves.
6 So they lived in ravines, caves, and rocks;
7 they sounded like animals in the bushes
and huddled together under the nettles.
8 A senseless, unnamed bunch,
they were outcasts from society.
Job 30:1-8
9 “Now their sons mock me with songs
and use my name as a byword.
10 They’re appalled at me and shrink back;
they don’t hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because God has removed my bowstring and cast me down,
people don’t hesitate to argue with me.
12 This rabble opposes me,
drives me out, lays traps for me.
13 They tear up my road and profit from my misfortune;
nobody restrains them.
14 They come at me as if through a wide breach;
they roll in like a storm.
15 They terrorize me
and chase my honor like the wind;
my prosperity dissipates like a cloud.
Job 30:9-15
16 “My life ebbs out of me;
depression has taken hold of me.
17 At night my bones ache,
and soreness gnaws at me.
18 My clothes are tattered from violence;
they hang on me like a coat.
Job 30:16-18
19 “You’ve thrown me in the mud;
you’ve made me like dust and ashes.
20 I call out to you, but you don’t answer;
I stand up, but you turn your attention elsewhere.
21 You’ve become cruel
and use your power to persecute.
22 You pick me up and blow me around in the wind;
you destroy me in the storm.
23 I know you’re going to bring me to death,
the destiny of all the living.
Job 30:19-23
24 “Don’t people in a pile of ruins hold out their hands
and in their misery call out for help?
25 Haven’t I cried for people whose life is hard?
Wasn’t I grieved for the needy?
26 When I expected good, evil came;
when I needed light, darkness arrived.
27 I’m in turmoil inside; I can’t relax;
days of misery lie ahead of me.
28 I go around mourning without comfort;
I stand up in the assembly and call out for help.
29 I’ve become a brother to jackals,
a companion of owls.
30 My skin is ashen,
and I’m burning up with fever.
31 My harp plays music for mourning;
my flute moans with those who weep.
Job 30:24-31