Open English Translation JOB Chapter 30

30 But now those who are younger than me laugh at me—

those whose fathers I would have refused to have join my sheepdogs!

2 What use was the strength of their arms to me?

Their contentment with life has gone.

3 They’re useless due to poverty and hunger.

Gnawing at the dry land that’s devastated and uninhabited.

4 They pick mallow leaves off the wild bushes,

≈ and roots of broom trees have become their food.

5 They’re driven away from the community,

and people shout at them as if they’re thieves,

6 They live out in the river valleys—

in holes in the ground and caves in the cliffs.

7 They bray like animals out between the shrubs.

≈ They’re huddled together under the thorn bushes.

8 They’re the children of fools, without any name to them.

They’ve been driven out of the land.

9 But now I’m mocked in their songs,

and my name has been made into a joke by them.

10 They despise me and keep their distance,

yet don’t hesitate to spit in my face.

11 God has unstrung my bow and humbled me,

so they don’t restrain themselves in my presence.

12 A rabble appears on one side and push my feet away.

≈ They pile up their destructive paths against me.

13 They’ve torn down my path.

They benefit from my destruction—

there’s no helper for them.

14 They come quickly like through a wide breach in the wall.

They have rolled themselves under the devastation.

15 Terrors have been turned against me.

They pursue my honour like the wind,

≈ and my prosperity has disappeared like cloud.

16 Now my life pours itself out within me.

≈ Days of suffering have taken hold of me.

17 Night pierces my bones from upon me,

≈ and the pains that gnaw at me never rest.

18 My clothing is transformed through great strength.

≈ My garment ties me up by the collar.

19 He throws me into the mud,

≈ and I’ve become like dust and ashes.

20 I call out to you for help

but you don’t answer me.

I’ve stood here and you just look at me.

21 You’ve changed yourself to become cruel to me.

≈ You use your strength to persecute me.

22 You hold me up to the wind and let it take me.

≈ You toss me around in the storm.

23 I know you are bringing me towards death,

≈ and to the final appointment that everyone has.

24 Doesn’t someone who’s collapsed into a heap stretch out their hand.

≈ In a disaster they cry out for help.

25 Didn’t I weep for those having a troubled day?

≈ I was upset when I saw the poor.

26 I waited for good, but it was evil that came.

≈ I waited for light, but it was gloom that came.

27 My insides feel like they’re boiling—

they never feel settled,

and my suffering confronts me every day.

28 I go around being dark, but not from the sun.

I’ve stood in the assembly and called out for help.

29 I’ve become a brother to jackals,

≈ and a companion of young ostriches.

30 My skin has turned black,

≈ and my bones are burning with fever.

31 So my harp is used for mourning.

≈ My flute accompanies those who are weeping.