Job 30

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30 <1> But now men who are younger than I am are making fun of me.

And these are men whose fathers are so worthless

that I wouldn't put them with the dogs guarding my sheep.

<2> Their fathers are still too weak to help me,

but now they are old and tired.

Their muscles are not hard and strong any more.

<3> They are starving with nothing to eat,

so they eat the dry dust of the desert.

<4> They pull up salt plants in the desert

and eat the roots from the broom tree.

<5> They are forced away from other people.

People shout at them as if they were thieves.

<6> They must live in the dry riverbeds,

hillside caves, and holes in the ground.

<7> They howl in the bushes,

and huddle together under thornbushes.

<8> They are a group of worthless people

with no names who were forced to leave their country.

<9> "Now their sons sing songs about me

to make fun of me.

My name has become a bad word to them.

<10> Those young men hate me;

they stand away from me.

They even spit in my face!

<11> God has taken the string

from my bow and made me weak.

Those young men don't stop themselves

but turn against me with all their anger.

<12> They attack me on my right side.

They knock my feet out from under me.

I feel like a city being attacked:

They build dirt ramps against my walls

to attack and destroy me.

<13> They guard the road so that I cannot escape.

They succeed in destroying me,

without help from anyone.

<14> They break a hole in the wall.

They come rushing through it,

and the crashing rocks fall on me.

<15> I am shaking with fear.

They chased my honor away like dust in the wind.

My safety disappears like a cloud.

<16> "Now my life is almost gone, and soon I will die.

Days of suffering have grabbed me.

<17> All my bones ache at night.

Pain never stops chewing on me.

<18> God grabbed the collar of my coat

and twisted my clothes out of shape.

<19> He threw me into the mud,

and I became like dust and ashes.

<20> "God, I cry out to you for help,

but you don't answer.

I stand up and pray,

but you don't pay attention to me.

<21> You have become cruel to me;

you use your power to hurt me.

<22> You let the strong wind blow me away.

You throw me around in the storm.

<23> I know you will lead me to my death.

Every living being must die.

<24> "Surely no one will hurt anyone

who is already ruined and crying for help.

<25> God, you know that I cried for those who were in trouble.

You know that I mourned for the poor.

<26> But when I looked for good things,

bad things came instead.

When I looked for light, darkness came.

<27> I am torn up inside.

The suffering never stops,

it has only just started.

<28> I am always sad and depressed, without relief.

I stand up in the assembly and yell for help,

<29> like the wild dogs and ostriches in the desert.

<30> My skin is burned and peeling away.

My body is hot with fever.

<31> My harp is tuned to play sad songs.

My flute makes sounds like sad crying.