哀歎今日的痛苦

30 「但如今,比我年少的人竟嘲笑我,
他們的父親曾被我鄙視,
連我的牧羊犬都不如。
他們精力衰竭,
對我有何益處?
他們貧窮饑餓,瘦弱不堪,
夜間在乾旱荒涼之地啃食。
他們在草叢中拔鹹草充饑,
以羅騰樹根為食。
他們被趕離人群,
像賊一樣被喝斥。
他們只好住在荒谷,
在地洞和岩穴棲身;
在雜草間嚎叫如獸,
在樹叢中蜷縮一團。
他們是愚昧無名之輩,
被人用鞭子趕出境外。

「如今,他們竟唱歌諷刺我,
我成了他們的笑柄。
10 他們厭惡我,不願靠近我,
任意朝我臉上吐唾沫。
11 因為上帝苦待我,使我毫無力量,
他們才在我面前肆無忌憚。
12 這些無賴從右邊攻擊我,
迫使我逃亡,
他們展開攻勢要毀滅我。
13 他們截斷我的路,
想方設法害我,無人相助。
14 他們衝破防線,
從廢墟中向我襲來。
15 恐懼籠罩著我,
我的尊榮隨風而去,
我的榮華如雲消散。

16 「如今我的生命將盡,
痛苦的日子抓住我。
17 夜間我的骨頭刺痛,
如被啃噬,無休無止。
18 上帝猛力抓住我的衣服,
緊緊地揪住我的衣領。
19 祂把我扔進淤泥,
使我如塵埃灰燼。

20 「上帝啊!我向你呼求,你不回應;
我站起來,你也不理睬。
21 你變得對我殘酷無情,
用你大能的手迫害我,
22 把我提到風中,讓我被風吹走,
被暴風拋來拋去。
23 我知道你要帶我去死亡之地,
那是你為眾生所定的歸宿。

24 「誠然,不幸的人在困境中呼救,
無人會伸手加害他。
25 難道我不曾為受苦的人哭泣,
我的心不曾為窮困者悲傷嗎?
26 我盼望幸福,來的卻是災禍;
我期待光明,來的卻是黑暗。
27 我心裡一直煩亂不安,
苦難的日子迎面襲來。
28 我皮膚發黑,不是因為日曬,
我在會眾中站起來呼救。
29 我成了豺狼的兄弟,
駝鳥的夥伴。
30 我的皮膚發黑、脫落,
我的骨頭如被烤焦。
31 我的琴唱出哀樂,
我的簫奏出悲鳴。

30 “But now they mock me,(A)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.(B)
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
    since their vigor had gone from them?
Haggard from want and hunger,
    they roamed[a] the parched land(C)
    in desolate wastelands(D) at night.(E)
In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(F)
    and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.(G)
They were banished from human society,
    shouted at as if they were thieves.
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
    among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(H)
They brayed(I) among the bushes(J)
    and huddled in the undergrowth.
A base and nameless brood,(K)
    they were driven out of the land.(L)

“And now those young men mock me(M) in song;(N)
    I have become a byword(O) among them.
10 They detest me(P) and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.(Q)
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow(R) and afflicted me,(S)
    they throw off restraint(T) in my presence.
12 On my right(U) the tribe[c] attacks;
    they lay snares(V) for my feet,(W)
    they build their siege ramps against me.(X)
13 They break up my road;(Y)
    they succeed in destroying me.(Z)
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;(AA)
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors(AB) overwhelm me;(AC)
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.(AD)

16 “And now my life ebbs away;(AE)
    days of suffering grip me.(AF)
17 Night pierces my bones;
    my gnawing pains never rest.(AG)
18 In his great power(AH) God becomes like clothing to me[d];
    he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,(AI)
    and I am reduced to dust and ashes.(AJ)

20 “I cry out to you,(AK) God, but you do not answer;(AL)
    I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;(AM)
    with the might of your hand(AN) you attack me.(AO)
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;(AP)
    you toss me about in the storm.(AQ)
23 I know you will bring me down to death,(AR)
    to the place appointed for all the living.(AS)

24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man(AT)
    when he cries for help in his distress.(AU)
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?(AV)
    Has not my soul grieved for the poor?(AW)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
    when I looked for light, then came darkness.(AX)
27 The churning inside me never stops;(AY)
    days of suffering confront me.(AZ)
28 I go about blackened,(BA) but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(BB)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,(BC)
    a companion of owls.(BD)
30 My skin grows black(BE) and peels;(BF)
    my body burns with fever.(BG)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,(BH)
    and my pipe(BI) to the sound of wailing.

Footnotes

  1. Job 30:3 Or gnawed
  2. Job 30:4 Or fuel
  3. Job 30:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  4. Job 30:18 Hebrew; Septuagint power he grasps my clothing

30 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.

Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.