Job 30

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	NEW JERUSALEM
1 "But now they make sport of me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set 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 What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?	2 And what use to me was the strength of their hands? - enfeebled as they were,
3 Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;	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 pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of the broom.	4 they used to pick saltwort among the scrub, making their meals off roots of broom.
5 They are driven out from among men; they shout after them as after a thief.	5 Outlawed from human company, which raised hue and cry against them, as against thieves,
6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.	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 bray; under the nettles they huddle together.	7 You could hear them braying from the bushes as they huddled together in the thistles.
8 A senseless, a disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.	8 Children of scoundrels, worse, nameless people, the very outcasts of society!
9 "And now I have become their song, I am a byword to 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 keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.	10 Fil ed with disgust, they keep their distance, on seeing me, they spit without restraint.
11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast 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 On my right hand the rabble rise, they drive me forth, they cast up against me their ways of destruction.	12 Their brats surge forward on my right, to see when I am having a little peace, and advance on mewith threatening strides.
13 They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains 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 come; amid the crash they roll on.	14 They move in, as if through a wide breach, and I go tumbling beneath the rubble.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away 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 "And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.	16 And now the life in me trickles away, days of grief have gripped me.
17 The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.	17 At night-time sickness saps my bones I am gnawed by wounds that never sleep.
18 With violence it seizes my garment; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.	18 Violently, he has caught me by my clothes, has gripped me by the col ar of my coat.
19 God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.	19 He has thrown me into the mud; I am no more than dust and ashes.
20 I cry to thee and thou dost not answer me; I stand, and thou dost not heed me.	20 I cry to you, and you give me no answer; I stand before you, but you take no notice.
21 Thou hast turned cruel to me; with the might of thy hand thou dost persecute me.	21 You have grown cruel to me, and your strong hand torments me unmerciful y.
22 Thou liftest me up on the wind, thou makest me ride on it, and thou tossest me about in the roar of the storm.	22 You carry me away astride the wind and blow me to pieces in a tempest.
23 Yea, I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.	23 Yes, I know that you are taking me towards death, to the common meeting-place of al the living.
24 "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?	24 Yet have I ever laid a hand on the poor when they cried out for justice in calamity?
25 Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?	25 Have I not wept for those whose life is hard, felt pity for the penniless?
26 But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.	26 I hoped for happiness, but sorrow came; I looked for light, but there was darkness.
27 My heart is in turmoil, and is never still; days of affliction come to meet me.	27 My stomach seethes, is never stil , days of suffering have struck me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.	28 Sombre I go, yet no one comforts me, and if I rise in the council, I rise to weep.
29 I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.	29 I have become brother to the jackal and companion to the ostrich.
30 My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.	30 My skin has turned black on me, my bones are burnt with fever.
31 My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.	31 My harp is tuned to dirges, my pipe to the voice of mourners.