30:1 "But now those younger than I mock me, Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. |
30:2 "Indeed, what {good was} the strength of their hands to me? Vigor had perished from them. |
30:3 "From want and famine they are gaunt Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation, |
30:4 Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And whose food is the root of the broom shrub. |
30:5 "They are driven from the community; They shout against them as {against} a thief, |
30:6 So that they dwell in dreadful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks. |
30:7 "Among the bushes they cry out; Under the nettles they are gathered together. |
30:8 "Fools, even those without a name, They were scourged from the land. |
30:9 "And now I have become their taunt, I have even become a byword to them. |
30:10 "They abhor me {and} stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from spitting at my face. |
30:11 "Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, They have cast off the bridle before me. |
30:12 "On the right hand their brood arises; They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction. |
30:13 "They break up my path, They profit from my destruction; No one restrains them. |
30:14 "As {through} a wide breach they come, Amid the tempest they roll on. |
30:15 "Terrors are turned against me; They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. |
30:16 "And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have seized me. |
30:17 "At night it pierces my bones within me, And my gnawing {pains} take no rest. |
30:18 "By a great force my garment is distorted; It binds me about as the collar of my coat. |
30:19 "He has cast me into the mire, And I have become like dust and ashes. |
30:20 "I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me. |
30:21 "You have become cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You persecute me. |
30:22 "You lift me up to the wind {and} cause me to ride; And You dissolve me in a storm. |
30:23 "For I know that You will bring me to death And to the house of meeting for all living. |
30:24 "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out {his} hand, Or in his disaster therefore cry out for help? |
30:25 "Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? |
30:26 "When I expected good, then evil came; When I waited for light, then darkness came. |
30:27 "I am seething within and cannot relax; Days of affliction confront me. |
30:28 "I go about mourning without comfort; I stand up in the assembly {and} cry out for help. |
30:29 "I have become a brother to jackals And a companion of ostriches. |
30:30 "My skin turns black on me, And my bones burn with fever. |
30:31 "Therefore my harp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the sound of those who weep. |