Job 30:16-31 ▼

16 “And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have seized me.

17 At night it pierces my bones within me, And my gnawing pains take no rest.

18 By a great force my garment is distorted; It seizes me about as the collar of my tunic.

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

20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You carefully consider how to be against me.

21 You have become cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You hunted me down.

22 You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride; And You melt me away in a storm.

23 For I know that You will bring me to death And to the house of meeting for all living.

24 “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, Or, in his upheaval, is there a cry for help because of them?

25 Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26 When I hoped for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, then thick darkness came.

27 I am boiling within and cannot be silent; Days of affliction confront me.

28 I go about darkened but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

29 I have become a brother to jackals And a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin turns black on me, And my bones burn with fever.

31 Therefore my harp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the sound of those who weep.