30:1  "But now those who are younger than I, have me in derision, Whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

30:2  Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, Men in whom ripe age has perished?

30:3  They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.

30:4  They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.

30:5  They are driven forth from the midst of men; They cry after them as after a thief;

30:6  So that they dwell in frightful valleys, And in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

30:7  Among the bushes they bray; And under the nettles they are gathered together.

30:8  They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.

30:9  "Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.

30:10  They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And don't hesitate to spit in my face.

30:11  For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; And they have thrown off restraint before me.

30:12  On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.

30:13  They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, Without anyone's help.

30:14  As through a wide breach they come, In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.

30:15  Terrors are turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

30:16  "Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.

30:17  In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

30:18  By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

30:19  He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.

30:20  I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

30:21  You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

30:22  You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

30:23  For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

30:24  "However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

30:25  Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?

30:26  When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.

30:27  My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

30:28  I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

30:29  I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.

30:30  My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.

30:31  Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.