30:1 But now the youngest have laughed me to
scorn, now they reprove me in [their] turn, whose fathers I set at nought;
whom I did not deem worthy [to be with] my shepherd dogs.
30:2 Yea, why had I the strength of their hands? for them the full term [of
life] was lost.
30:3 [One is] childless in want and famine, [such as] they that fled but
lately the distress and misery of drought.
30:4 Who compass the salt places on the sounding [shore], who had salt
[herbs] for their food, and were dishonorable and of no repute, in want of
every good thing; who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger.
30:5 Thieves have risen up against me,
30:6 whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild
shrubs.
30:7 They will cry out among the rustling [bushes].
30:8 [They are] sons of fools and vile men, [whose] name and glory [are]
quenched from off the earth.
30:9 But now I am their music, and they have me for a by-word.
30:10 And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my
face.
30:11 For he has opened his quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off
the restraint of my presence.
30:12 They have risen up against [me] on the right hand of [their]
offspring; they have stretched out their foot, and directed against me the
ways of their destruction.
30:13 My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment: he has
shot at me with his weapons.
30:14 And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains.
30:15 My pains return upon [me]; my hope is gone like the wind, and my
safety as a cloud.
30:16 Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me; and days of anguish
seize me.
30:17 And by night my bones are confounded; an my sinews are relaxed.
30:18 With great force [my disease] has taken hold of my garment: it has
compassed me as the collar of my coat.
30:19 And thou hast counted me as clay; my portion in dust and ashes.
30:20 And I have cried to thee, but thou hearest me not: but they stood
still, and observed me.
30:21 They attacked me also without mercy: thou hast scourged me with a
strong hand.
30:22 And thou hast put me to grief, and hast cast me away from safety.
30:23 For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house
[appointed] for every mortal.
30:24 Oh then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another,
and he should do this for me.
30:25 Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in
distress.
30:26 But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the
more upon me.
30:27 My belly boiled, and would not cease: the days of poverty prevented
me.
30:28 I went mourning without restraint: and I have stood and cried out in
the assembly.
30:29 I am become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches.
30:30 And my skin has been greatly blackened, and my bones are burned with
heat.
30:31 My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my
weeping. |
30:1 But now they that are younger than I
have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with
the dogs of my flock.
30:2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old
age was perished?
30:3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in
former time desolate and waste.
30:4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
30:5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after
a thief;)
30:6 To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in
the rocks.
30:7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered
together.
30:8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler
than the earth.
30:9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
30:10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my
face.
30:11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let
loose the bridle before me.
30:12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they
raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
30:13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
30:14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation
they rolled themselves upon me.
30:15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my
welfare passeth away as a cloud.
30:16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have
taken hold upon me.
30:17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no
rest.
30:18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me
about as the collar of my coat.
30:19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou
regardest me not.
30:21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest
thyself against me.
30:22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and
dissolvest my substance.
30:23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house
appointed for all living.
30:24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry
in his destruction.
30:25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved
for the poor?
30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for
light, there came darkness.
30:27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
30:28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the
congregation.
30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
30:31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of
them that weep. |