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.