New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — With References (Rbi8, en_US, 1984)
Job
Job, 30
1 “And now they have laughed at me, Those younger in days than I am, Whose fathers I would have refused To place with the dogs of my flock.
2 Even the power of their hands—of what use was it to me? In them vigor has perished.
3 Because of want and hunger they are sterile, Gnawing at a waterless region, [Where] yesterday there were storm and desolation.
4 They were plucking the salt herb by the bushes, And the root of broom trees was their food.
5 From the community they would be driven away; People would shout at them as at a thief.
6 [They have] to reside on the very slope of torrent valleys, In holes of the dust and in rocks.
7 Among the bushes they would cry out; Under the nettles they would huddle together.
8 Sons of the senseless one, also sons of the nameless one, They have been scourged out of the land.
9 And now I have become even the theme of their song, And I am to them for a byword.
10 They have detested me, they have kept themselves far from me; And from my face they did not hold back [their] spit.
11 For he loosened [my] own bowstring and proceeded to humble me, And the bridle they left loose on my account.
12 At [my] right hand they rise up as a brood; My feet they have let go, But they proceeded to cast up against me their disastrous barriers.
13 They have torn down my roadways; They were beneficial only for adversity to me, Without their having any helper.
14 As through a wide gap they proceed to come; Under a storm they have rolled along.
15 Sudden terrors have been turned upon me; My noble bearing is chased like the wind,*1 And like a cloud my salvation has passed away.
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16 And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction take hold upon me.
17 At night my very bones have been bored through [and dropped] from off me, And [pains] gnawing me do not take any rest.
18 By the abundance of power my garment takes on a change; Like the collar of my long garment it engirdles me.
19 He has brought me down to the clay, So that I show myself like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me; I have stood, that you might show yourself attentive to me.
21 You change yourself to become cruel to me; With the full might of your hand you harbor animosity toward me.
- 22 You lift me to the wind, you cause me to ride [it]
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Then you dissolve me with a crash.
23 For I well know that to death you will make me turn back, And to the house of meeting for everyone living.
24 Only no one thrusts his hand out against a mere heap of ruins, Nor during one’s decay is there a cry for help respecting those things.
25 Certainly I have wept for the one having a hard day; My soul has grieved for the poor one.
26 Although for good I waited, yet bad came; And I kept awaiting the light, but gloom came.
27 My own intestines were made to boil and did not keep silent; Days of affliction confronted me.
28 Saddened I walked about when there was no sunlight;*1 I got up in the congregation,*2 I kept crying for help.
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29 A brother to jackals I became, And a companion to the daughters of the ostrich.
30 My very skin became black [and dropped] off me, And my very bones became hot from dryness.
31 And my harp came to be merely for mourning, And my pipe for the voice of weeping ones.