| 1 | But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. |
| 2 | Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age
and
vigor had perished. |
| 3 | They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry
and
barren ground
or
flee into the wilderness, into the gloom of wasteness and desolation. |
| 4 | They pluck saltwort
or
mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food
or
to warm them. |
| 5 | They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief. |
| 6 | They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks. |
| 7 | Among the bushes they bray
and
howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves
and
huddle together. |
| 8 | Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged
and
crushed out of the land. |
| 9 | And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them. |
| 10 | They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face
or
at the sight of me. |
| 11 | For God has loosed my bowstring and afflicted
and
humbled me; they have cast off the bridle [of restraint] before me. |
| 12 | On my right hand rises the rabble brood; they jostle me
and
push away my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction [like an advancing army]. |
| 13 | They break up
and
clutter my path [embarrassing my plans]; they urge on my calamity, even though they have no helper [and are themselves helpless]. |
| 14 | As through a wide breach they come in; amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll themselves upon me. |
| 15 | Terrors are turned upon me; my honor
and
reputation they chase away like the wind, and my welfare has passed away as a cloud. |
| 16 | And now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me. |
| 17 | My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest. |
| 18 | By the great force [of my disease] my garment is disguised
and
disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat. |
| 19 | [God] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. |
| 20 | I cry to You, [Lord,] and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me. |
| 21 | You have become harsh
and
cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me. |
| 22 | You lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest. |
| 23 | For I know that You will bring me to death and to the house [of meeting] appointed for all the living. |
| 24 | However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his calamity will he not therefore cry for help? |
| 25 | Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor
and
needy? |
| 26 | But when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness. |
| 27 | My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction come to meet me. |
| 28 | I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the congregation and cry for help. |
| 29 | I am a brother to jackals [which howl], and a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally]. |
| 30 | My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat. |
| 31 | Therefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep. |