Job 30:1-13

Job Bewails His Present Affliction

30¹ "But no longer. Now I'm the butt of their jokes - young ruffians! whippersnappers! ² Why, I considered their fathers mere inexperienced pups. But they are worse than dogs - good for nothing, stray, mangy animals, ³ Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys, howling at the moon; ⁴ Homeless guttersnipes chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans; ⁵ Outcasts from the community, cursed as dangerous delinquents. ⁶ Nobody would put up with them; they were driven from the neighborhood. ⁷ You could hear them out there at the edge of town, yelping and barking, huddled in junkyards, ⁸ A gang of beggars and no-names, thrown out on their ears. ⁹ "But now I'm the one they're after, mistreating me, taunting and mocking. ¹⁰ They abhor me, they abuse me. How dare those scoundrels - they spit in my face! ¹¹ Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap, they hold nothing back. Anything goes. ¹² They come at me from my blind side, trip me up, then jump on me while I'm down. ¹³ They throw every kind of obstacle in my path, determined to ruin me - and no one lifts a finger to help me!