“1 But now [they that are] younger than I have me in derision, whose
fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. 2
Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom
old age was perished? 3 For want and famine [they were] solitary;
fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. 4 Who cut
up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their meat. 5 They
were driven forth from among [men], (they cried after them as [after] a
thief;) 6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, [in] caves of the
earth, and [in] the rocks. 7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the
nettles they were gathered together. 8 [They were] children of fools,
yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. 9 And now am
I their song, yea, I am their byword. 10 They abhor me, they flee far
from me, and spare not to spit in my face. 11 Because he hath loosed my
cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12 Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth; they push away my feet, and
they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. 13 They mar my
path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. 14 They came
[upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the desolation they
rolled themselves [upon me].”
“15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and
my welfare passeth away as a cloud. 16 And now my soul is poured out
upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17 My bones are
pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. 18 By the
great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about
as the collar of my coat. 19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am
become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear
me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not]. 21 Thou art become cruel to
me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. 22 Thou
liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and
dissolvest my substance. 23 For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to]
death, and [to] the house appointed for all living. 24 Howbeit he will
not stretch out [his] hand to the grave, though they cry in his
destruction. 25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my
soul grieved for the poor? 26 When I looked for good, then evil came
[unto me]: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. 27 My
bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. 28 I
went mourning without the sun: I stood up, [and] I cried in the
congregation. 29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. 30
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. 31 My harp
also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that
weep.” (Job 30:1-31 AV)
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