Job 30 New King James Version

Job’s Wealth Now Poverty

30 “But now they mock at me, men ^[a]younger than I,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
²Indeed, what profit is the strength of their hands to me?
Their vigor has perished.
³They are gaunt from want and famine,
Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
⁴Who pluck ^[b]mallow by the bushes,
And broom tree roots for their food.
⁵They were driven out from among men,
They shouted at them as at a thief.
⁶They had to live in the clefts of the ^[c]valleys,
In ^[d]caves of the earth and the rocks.
⁷Among the bushes they brayed,
Under the nettles they nestled.
⁸They were sons of fools,
Yes, sons of vile men;
They were scourged from the land.

⁹“And^(A) now I am their taunting song;
Yes, I am their byword.
¹⁰They abhor me, they keep far from me;
They do not hesitate ^(B)to spit in my face.
¹¹Because ^(C)He has loosed ^[e]my bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off restraint before me.
¹²At my right hand the rabble arises;
They push away my feet,
And ^(D)they raise against me their ways of destruction.
¹³They break up my path,
They promote my calamity;
They have no helper.
¹⁴They come as broad breakers;
Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

¹⁶“And^(E) now my soul is ^(F)poured out because of my plight;
The days of affliction take hold of me.
¹⁷My bones are pierced in me at night,
And my gnawing pains take no rest.
¹⁸By great force my garment is disfigured;
It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
¹⁹He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰“I ^(G)cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You regard me.
²¹But You have become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You ^(H)oppose me.
²²You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;
You spoil my success.
²³For I know that You will bring me to death,
And to the house ^(I)appointed for all living.

²⁴“Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins,
If they cry out when He destroys it.
²⁵^(J)Have I not wept for him who was in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
²⁶^(K)But when I looked for good, evil came to me;
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
²⁷^[f]My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest;
Days of affliction confront me.
²⁸^(L)I go about mourning, but not in the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
²⁹^(M)I am a brother of jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
³⁰^(N)My skin grows black and falls from me;
^(O)My bones burn with fever.
³¹My harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the voice of those who weep.