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

2 Y ea, whereto the strength of their hands me, in whom vigour hath perished?

3 W ithered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert:

4 T hey gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food.

5 T hey are driven forth from among —they cry after them as after a thief—

6 T o dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks:

7 T hey bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together:

8 S ons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land.

9 A nd now I am their song, yea, I am their byword.

10 T hey abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face.

11 F or he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me.

12 A t right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways;

13 T hey mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them;

14 T hey come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.

15 T errors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud.

16 A nd now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 T he night pierceth through my bones from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest:

18 B y their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat.

19 H e hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me.

21 T hou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me.

22 T hou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance.

23 F or I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living.

24 I ndeed, no prayer when he stretcheth out hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.

25 D id not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26 F or I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness.

27 M y bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me.

28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation.

29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches.

30 M y skin is become black off me, and my bones are parched with heat.

31 M y harp also is to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.