2.7 KiB
Job Speaks of His Anguish
Chapter 30
- "But now I am mocked by people younger than I,
by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs.
- A lot of good they are to me--
those worn-out wretches!
- They are gaunt from poverty and hunger.
They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.
- They pluck wild greens from among the bushes
and eat from the roots of broom trees.
- They are driven from human society,
and people shout at them as if they were thieves.
- So now they live in frightening ravines,
in caves and among the rocks.
- They sound like animals howling among the bushes,
huddled together beneath the nettles.
- They are nameless fools,
outcasts from society.
- "And now they mock me with vulgar songs!
They taunt me!
- They despise me and won't come near me,
except to spit in my face.
- For God has cut my bowstring.
He has humbled me,
so they have thrown off all restraint.
- These outcasts oppose me to my face.
They send me sprawling
and lay traps in my path.
- They block my road
and do everything they can to destroy me.
They know I have no one to help me.
- They come at me from all directions.
They jump on me when I am down.
- I live in terror now.
My honor has blown away in the wind,
and my prosperity has vanished like a cloud.
- "And now my life seeps away.
Depression haunts my days.
- At night my bones are filled with pain,
which gnaws at me relentlessly.
- With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt.
He grips me by the collar of my coat.
- He has thrown me into the mud.
I'm nothing more than dust and ashes.
- "I cry to you, O God, but you don't answer.
I stand before you, but you don't even look.
- You have become cruel toward me.
You use your power to persecute me.
- You throw me into the whirlwind
and destroy me in the storm.
- And I know you are sending me to my death--
the destination of all who live.
- "Surely no one would turn against the needy
when they cry for help in their trouble.
- Did I not weep for those in trouble?
Was I not deeply grieved for the needy?
- So I looked for good, but evil came instead.
I waited for the light, but darkness fell.
- My heart is troubled and restless.
Days of suffering torment me.
- I walk in gloom, without sunlight.
I stand in the public square and cry for help.
- Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals
and a companion to owls.
- My skin has turned dark,
and my bones burn with fever.
- My harp plays sad music,
and my flute accompanies those who weep.