Job 30:1-31 NIrV

[1] “But now those who are younger than I am make fun of me. I wouldn’t even put their parents with my sheep dogs! [2] Their strong hands couldn’t give me any help. That’s because their strength was gone. [3] They were weak because they were needy and hungry. They wandered through dry and empty deserts at night. [4] Among the bushes they gathered salty plants. They ate the roots of desert bushes. [5] They were driven away from human society. They were shouted at as if they were robbers. [6] They were forced to live in dry stream beds. They had to stay among rocks and in holes in the ground. [7] Like donkeys they cried out among the bushes. There they crowded together and hid. [8] They were so foolish that no one respected them. They were driven out of the land. [9] “Now their children laugh at me. They make fun of me with their songs. [10] They hate me. They stay away from me. They even dare to spit in my face. [11] God has made my body weak. It’s like a tent that has fallen down. So those children do what they want to in front of me. [12] Many people attack me on my right side. They lay traps for my feet. They come at me from every direction. [13] They tear up the road I walk on. They succeed in destroying me. They say, ‘No one can help him.’ [14] They attack me like troops smashing through a wall. Among the destroyed buildings they come rolling in. [15] Terrors sweep over me. My honor is driven away as if by the wind. My safety vanishes like a cloud. [16] “Now my life is slipping away. Days of suffering grab hold of me. [17] At night my bones hurt. My aches and pains never stop. [18] God’s great power becomes like clothes to me. He chokes me like the neck of my shirt. [19] He throws me down into the mud. I’m nothing but dust and ashes. [20] “God, I cry out to you. But you don’t answer me. I stand up. But all you do is look at me. [21] You do mean things to me. You attack me with your mighty power. [22] You pick me up and blow me away with the wind. You toss me around in the storm. [23] I know that you will bring me down to death. That’s what you have appointed for everyone. [24] “No one would crush people when they cry out for help in their trouble. [25] Haven’t I wept for those who are in trouble? Haven’t I felt sorry for poor people? [26] I hoped good things would happen, but something evil came. I looked for light, but all I saw was darkness. [27] My insides are always churning. Nothing but days of suffering are ahead of me. [28] My skin has become dark, but the sun didn’t do it. I stand up in the community and cry out for help. [29] I’ve become a brother to wild dogs. Owls are my companions. [30] My skin grows black and peels. My body burns with fever. [31] My lyre is tuned to sadness. My flute makes a sound like weeping.