Job 30

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 But now they hold me in derision who are younger in years than I; Whose fathers I should have disdained to rank with the dogs of my flock.	1 And now I am the laughing-stock of people who are younger than I am and whose parents I wouldhave disdained to put with the dogs guarding my flock.
2 Such strength as they had, to me meant nought; they were utterly destitute.	2 And what use to me was the strength of their hands? - enfeebled as they were,
3 In want and hunger was their lot, they who fled to the parched wastelands:	3 worn out by want and hunger, for they used to gnaw the roots of the thirsty ground -- that place ofgloom, ruin and desolation-
4 They plucked saltwort and shrubs; the roots of the broom plant were their food.	4 they used to pick saltwort among the scrub, making their meals off roots of broom.
5 They were banished from among men, with an outcry like that against a thief--	5 Outlawed from human company, which raised hue and cry against them, as against thieves,
6 To dwell on the slopes of the wadies, in caves of sand and stone;	6 they made their homes in the sides of ravines, in holes in the earth or in clefts of rock.
7 Among the bushes they raised their raucous cry; under the nettles they huddled together.	7 You could hear them braying from the bushes as they huddled together in the thistles.
8 Irresponsible, nameless men, they were driven out of the land.	8 Children of scoundrels, worse, nameless people, the very outcasts of society!
9 Yet now they sing of me in mockery; I am become a byword among them.	9 And these are the ones who now make up songs about me and use me as a byword!
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, they do not hesitate to spit in my face!	10 Fil ed with disgust, they keep their distance, on seeing me, they spit without restraint.
11 Indeed, they have loosed their bonds; they lord it over me, and have thrown off restraint in my presence.	11 And since God has loosened my bow-string and afflicted me, they too throw off the bridle in mypresence.
12 To subvert my paths they rise up; they build their approaches for my ruin.	12 Their brats surge forward on my right, to see when I am having a little peace, and advance on mewith threatening strides.
13 To destroy me, they attack with none to stay them;	13 They cut off all means of escape seizing the chance to destroy me, and no one stops them.
14 as through a wide breach they advance. Amid the uproar they come on in waves;	14 They move in, as if through a wide breach, and I go tumbling beneath the rubble.
15 over me rolls the terror. My dignity is borne off on the wind, and my welfare vanishes like a cloud.	15 Terror rounds on me, my confidence is dispersed as though by the wind, my hope of safety vanisheslike a cloud.
16 My soul ebbs away from me;	16 And now the life in me trickles away, days of grief have gripped me.
17 My frame takes no rest by night; my inward parts seethe and will not be stilled.	17 At night-time sickness saps my bones I am gnawed by wounds that never sleep.
18 One with great power lays hold of my clothing; by the collar of my tunic he seizes me:	18 Violently, he has caught me by my clothes, has gripped me by the col ar of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire; I am leveled with the dust and ashes.	19 He has thrown me into the mud; I am no more than dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you, but you do not answer me; you stand off and look at me,	20 I cry to you, and you give me no answer; I stand before you, but you take no notice.
21 Then you turn upon me without mercy and with your strong hand you buffet me.	21 You have grown cruel to me, and your strong hand torments me unmerciful y.
22 You raise me up and drive me before the wind; I am tossed about by the tempest.	22 You carry me away astride the wind and blow me to pieces in a tempest.
23 Indeed I know you will turn me back in death to the destined place of everyone alive.	23 Yes, I know that you are taking me towards death, to the common meeting-place of al the living.
24 Yet should not a hand be held out to help a wretched man in his calamity?	24 Yet have I ever laid a hand on the poor when they cried out for justice in calamity?
25 Or have I not wept for the hardships of others; was not my soul grieved for the destitute?	25 Have I not wept for those whose life is hard, felt pity for the penniless?
26 Yet when I looked for good, then evil came; when I expected light, then came darkness.	26 I hoped for happiness, but sorrow came; I looked for light, but there was darkness.
27 days of affliction have overtaken me.	27 My stomach seethes, is never stil , days of suffering have struck me.
28 I go about in gloom, without the sun; I rise up in public to voice my grief.	28 Sombre I go, yet no one comforts me, and if I rise in the council, I rise to weep.
29 I have become the brother of jackals, companion to the ostrich.	29 I have become brother to the jackal and companion to the ostrich.
30 My blackened skin falls away from me; the heat scorches my very frame.	30 My skin has turned black on me, my bones are burnt with fever.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my reed pipe to sounds of weeping.	31 My harp is tuned to dirges, my pipe to the voice of mourners.