1 B ut now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 Y es, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished.

3 T hey 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 T hey pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them.

5 T hey are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief.

6 T hey must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7 A mong the bushes they bray and howl; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together.

8 S ons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land.

9 A nd now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them.

10 T hey abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me.

11 F or God has loosed my bowstring and afflicted and humbled me; they have cast off the bridle before me.

12 O n 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.

13 T hey break up and clutter my path; they urge on my calamity, even though they have no helper.

14 A s through a wide breach they come in; amid the crash they roll themselves upon me.

15 T errors are turned upon me; my honor and reputation they chase away like the wind, and my welfare has passed away as a cloud.

16 A nd now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me.

17 M y bones are pierced in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

18 B y the great force my garment is disguised and disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat.

19 h as cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry to You, and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You gaze at me.

21 Y ou have become harsh and cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You persecute me.

22 Y ou lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest.

23 F or I know that You will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all the living.

24 H owever, 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 D id not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor and needy?

26 B ut when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 M y 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, and a companion to ostriches.

30 M y skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat.

31 T herefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.