The Shame of the Present
30 But those far younger than I am now laugh at me—
men whose fathers I would not have allowed
to serve with my sheepdogs.
2 The strength of their hands was useless to me.[a]
Their vigor had failed.
3 Emaciated from famine and hunger,
they gnawed desert plants in the desolate wasteland.
4 They picked marsh plants among the brush,
and their food was the roots of broom bushes.
5 They were driven out of the community.
People shouted at them like thieves.
6 They lived in dry streambeds,
in holes among the dust and the rocks.
7 They brayed between shrubs,
and they huddled under thorn bushes.
8 Sons of fools and nameless nobodies,
they were driven out of the land with whips.
9 But now I am the target of their mocking songs,
and my name has become proverbial as a term of scorn.
10 They despise me and keep their distance.
They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 God has unhooked my bowstring,[b]
and he has afflicted me,
so they throw off all restraint in my presence.
12 At my right hand this rabble rises up like a mob.
They trip my feet.
They besiege me with their plans to destroy me.
13 They cut off my path to escape.
They try to benefit from my destruction.
They need no one to help them.
14 They pour through the breach in my wall.
They roll in through the ruins.
15 Terrors are unleashed against me.
My prestige is blown away by the wind.
My security has passed by like a cloud.
16 Now my soul is being poured out within me.
Days of suffering have seized me.
17 Night pierces my bones with pain.
The pain gnawing at me never stops.
18 God tugs violently at my clothing.
He chokes me like the collar of my robe.
19 He has thrown me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me.
Whenever I stand up, you pay no attention to me.[c]
21 You have become cruel to me.
With a strong hand you assault me.
22 You lift me up with the wind, and it carries me away.
You scatter me in the raging storm.
23 Yes, I know that you are bringing me down to death,
to the home where all the living meet.
24 Will he really stretch out his hand against a pile of ruins,
when the ruined man screams for help?[d]
25 Didn’t I weep for those who live through hard days?
Didn’t my soul grieve for the needy?
26 But when I waited for good, evil came.
When I hoped for light, darkness came.
27 My emotions[e] are boiling over.
They are never quiet.
Days of suffering confront me.
28 I walk around darkened, but not by the sun.
I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals,
a companion for screeching ostriches.
30 My skin turns black and falls off,
and my bones burn with fever.
31 My lyre plays only sad songs.
My flute accompanies only the sound of weeping.
Footnotes
- Job 30:2 The pronouns their and they in verses 2 to 7 may refer either to the men in verse 1, to their fathers, or to both. The tenses, therefore, could be either past or present.
- Job 30:11 Or tent cord
- Job 30:20 The translation follows some Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions, as well as the parallelism. Other manuscripts read you direct your attention against me.
- Job 30:24 This verse is difficult.
- Job 30:27 Literally my intestines