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Job's Present State Is Humiliating

¹ "But now those who are younger than I ^(C1)mock me,
Whose fathers I refused to put with the dogs of my flock.

² "Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.

³ "From poverty and famine they are gaunt,
They who gnaw at the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,

⁴ Who pluck saltweed by the bushes,
And whose food is the root of the broom shrub.

⁵ "They are driven from the community;
They shout against them as against a thief,

⁶ So that they live on the slopes of ravines,
In holes in the ground and among the rocks.

⁷ "Among the bushes they ^(F1)cry out;
Under the weeds they are gathered together.

⁸ "Worthless ^(F1)fellows, even ^(F2)those without a name,
They were cast out from the land.

⁹ "And now I have become their ^(F1)(C1)taunt,
And I have become a ^(F2)(C2)byword to them.

¹⁰ "They loathe me and stand aloof from me,
And they do not ^(F1)refrain from ^(C1)spitting in my face.

¹¹ "Because He has undone ^(F1)my ^(F2)bowstring and ^(C1)afflicted me,
They have cast off ^(C2)the bridle before me.

¹² "On the right hand their ^(F1)mob arises;
They ^(C1)push aside my feet ^(C2)and pile up their ways of destruction against me.

¹³ "They ^(C1)break up my path,
They promote my destruction;
No one restrains them.

¹⁴ "As through a wide gap they come,
^(F1)Amid the storm they roll on.

¹⁵ "^(C1)Sudden terrors are turned upon me;
They chase away my dignity like the wind,
And my ^(F1)prosperity has passed away ^(C2)like a cloud.

¹⁶ "And now ^(C1)my soul is poured out ^(F1)within me;
Days of misery have seized me.

¹⁷ "At night it pierces ^(C1)my bones ^(F1)within me,
And my gnawing pains do not rest.

¹⁸ "By a great force my garment is ^(C1)distorted;
It ties me up like the collar of my coat.

¹⁹ "He has thrown me into the ^(C1)mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰ "I ^(C1)cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.

²¹ "You have ^(F1)become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You ^(C1)persecute me.

²² "You ^(C1)lift me up to the wind and make me ride it;
And You dissolve me in a storm.

²³ "For I know that You ^(C1)will bring me to death,
And to the ^(C2)house of meeting for all living.

²⁴ "Yet does one in a heap of ruins not reach out with his hand,
Or in his disaster does he not ^(C1)cry out for help?

²⁵ "Have I not ^(C1)wept for the ^(F1)one whose life is hard?
Was my soul not grieved for ^(C2)the needy?

²⁶ "When I ^(C1)expected good, evil came;
When I waited for light, ^(C2)darkness came.

²⁷ "^(F1)I am seething ^(C1)within and cannot rest;
Days of misery confront me.

²⁸ "I go about ^(F1)(C1)mourning without comfort;
I stand up in the assembly and ^(C2)cry out for help.

²⁹ "I have become a brother to ^(C1)jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.

³⁰ "My ^(C1)skin turns black ^(F1)on me,
And my ^(C2)bones burn with ^(F2)fever.

³¹ "Therefore my ^(C1)harp ^(F1)is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the sound of those who weep.