Job 30 — ULB

30Verse 1Now those who are younger than I have nothing but mockery for me—
these young men whose fathers I would have refused to allow to work beside the dogs of my flock.
^{Verse 2}Indeed, the strength of their fathers' hands, how could it have helped me—
men in whom the strength of their mature age had perished?
^{Verse 3}They were thin from poverty and hunger;
they gnawed at the dry ground in the darkness of wilderness and desolation.
^{Verse 4}They plucked saltwort and bushes' leaves;
the roots of the broom tree were their food.
^{Verse 5}They were driven out from among people
who shouted after them as one would shout after a thief.
^{Verse 6}So they had to live in river valleys,
in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
^{Verse 7}Among the bushes they brayed like donkeys
and they gathered together under the nettles.
^{Verse 8}They were the sons of fools, indeed, sons of nameless people!
They were driven out of the land with whips.^{Verse 9}But now I have become the subject of their taunting song;
I have become a byword for them.
^{Verse 10}They abhor me and stand far off from me;
they do not refrain from spitting in my face.
^{Verse 11}For God has unstrung the string to my bow and afflicted me,
and those who taunt me cast off restraint before my face.
^{Verse 12}Upon my right hand rise the rabble;
they drive me away and
pile up against me their siege mounds.
^{Verse 13}They destroy my path;
they push forward disaster for me,
men who have no one to hold them back.
^{Verse 14}They come against me like an army through a wide hole in a city wall;
in the midst of the destruction they roll themselves in on me.
^{Verse 15}Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is driven away as if by the wind;
my prosperity passes away as a cloud.^{Verse 16}Now my life is pouring out from within me;
many days of suffering have laid hold on me.
^{Verse 17}In the night my bones in me are pierced;
the pains that gnaw at me take no rest.
^{Verse 18}God's great force has seized my clothing;
it wraps around me like the collar of my tunic.
^{Verse 19}He has thrown me into the mud;
I have become like dust and ashes.
^{Verse 20}I cry to you, God, but you do not answer me;
I stand up, and you merely look at me.
^{Verse 21}You have changed and become cruel to me;
with the strength of your hand you persecute me.
^{Verse 22}You lift me up to the wind and cause it to drive me along;
you throw me back and forth in a storm.^{+
Verse 23}For I know that you will bring me to death,
to the house appointed for all the living.^{Verse 24}However, does no one reach out with his hand to beg for help when he falls?
Does no one in trouble call out for help?
^{Verse 25}Did not I weep for him who was in trouble?
Did I not grieve for the needy man?
^{Verse 26}When I hoped for good, then evil came;
when I waited for light, darkness came instead.
^{Verse 27}My heart is troubled and does not rest;
days of affliction have come on me.
^{Verse 28}I have gone about like one who was living in the dark,
but not because of the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
^{Verse 29}I am a brother to jackals,
a companion of ostriches.
^{Verse 30}My skin is black and falls away from me;
my bones are burned with heat.
^{Verse 31}Therefore my harp is tuned for songs of mourning,
my flute for the singing of those who wail.