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)

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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.

Mockers

30 But now those younger than I mock me,
    whose fathers I refused to put beside my sheepdogs.
Their strength, what’s it to me,
    their energy having perished?
Stiff from want and hunger,
    those who gnaw dry ground,
    yesterday’s desolate waste,
    who pluck off the leaves on a bush,
    the root of the broom—
    a shrub is their food.
People banish them from society,
        shout at them as if to a thief;
    so they live in scary ravines,
        holes in the ground and rocks.
Among shrubs, they make sounds like donkeys;
    they are huddled together under a bush,
    children of fools and the nameless,
        whipped out of the land.

Specific mocking behavior

And now I’m their song;
    I’m their cliché!
10 They detest me, keep their distance,
    don’t withhold spit from my face.
11 Because he loosened my bowstring and afflicted me,
    they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 On the right, upstarts[a] rise and target my feet,
    build their siege ramps against me,
13     destroy my road, profit from my fall,
        with no help.
14 They advance as if through a destroyed wall;[b]
    they roll along beneath the ruin.
15 Terrors crash upon me;
    they sweep away my honor like wind;
        my safety disappears like a cloud.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:12 Heb uncertain
  2. Job 30:14 Or a wide opening