Job 30
New International Version

30 “But now they mock me,^(A)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.^(B)
²Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
    since their vigor had gone from them?
³Haggard from want and hunger,
    they roamed^[a]the parched land^(C)
    in desolate wastelands^(D)at night.^(E)
⁴In the brush they gathered salt herbs,^(F)
    and their food^[b]was the root of the broom bush.^(G)
⁵They were banished from human society,
    shouted at as if they were thieves.
⁶They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
    among the rocks and in holes in the ground.^(H)
⁷They brayed^(I)among the bushes^(J)
    and huddled in the undergrowth.
⁸A base and nameless brood,^(K)
    they were driven out of the land.^(L)

⁹“And now those young men mock me^(M)in song;^(N)
    I have become a byword^(O)among them.
¹⁰They detest me^(P)and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.^(Q)
¹¹Now that God has unstrung my bow^(R)and afflicted me,^(S)
    they throw off restraint^(T)in my presence.
¹²On my right^(U)the tribe^[c]attacks;
    they lay snares^(V)for my feet,^(W)
    they build their siege ramps against me.^(X)
¹³They break up my road;^(Y)
    they succeed in destroying me.^(Z)
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
¹⁴They advance as through a gaping breach;^(AA)
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
¹⁵Terrors^(AB)overwhelm me;^(AC)
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.^(AD)

¹⁶“And now my life ebbs away;^(AE)
    days of suffering grip me.^(AF)
¹⁷Night pierces my bones;
    my gnawing pains never rest.^(AG)
¹⁸In his great power^(AH)God becomes like clothing to me^[d];
    he binds me like the neck of my garment.
¹⁹He throws me into the mud,^(AI)
    and I am reduced to dust and ashes.^(AJ)

²⁰“I cry out to you,^(AK)God, but you do not answer;^(AL)
    I stand up, but you merely look at me.
²¹You turn on me ruthlessly;^(AM)
    with the might of your hand^(AN)you attack me.^(AO)
²²You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;^(AP)
    you toss me about in the storm.^(AQ)
²³I know you will bring me down to death,^(AR)
    to the place appointed for all the living.^(AS)

²⁴“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man^(AT)
    when he cries for help in his distress.^(AU)
²⁵Have I not wept for those in trouble?^(AV)
    Has not my soul grieved for the poor?^(AW)
²⁶Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
    when I looked for light, then came darkness.^(AX)
²⁷The churning inside me never stops;^(AY)
    days of suffering confront me.^(AZ)
²⁸I go about blackened,^(BA)but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.^(BB)
²⁹I have become a brother of jackals,^(BC)
    a companion of owls.^(BD)
³⁰My skin grows black^(BE)and peels;^(BF)
    my body burns with fever.^(BG)
³¹My lyre is tuned to mourning,^(BH)
    and my pipe^(BI)to the sound of wailing.