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

2 F or, unto what might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom time was lost?

3 F or want and famine they walked alone; fleeing into solitude, to the dark place, desolate and waste.

4 W ho cut up mallows among the bushes and juniper roots for their food.

5 T hey were driven forth from among men (they cried after them as after a thief).

6 T hey dwelt in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

7 A mong the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

8 T hey were sons of fools and men without names; they were lower than the earth.

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

10 T hey abhor me, they distance themselves from me, and do not spare to spit in my face.

11 B ecause God has loosed my cord and afflicted me, they have also gone out of control before my face.

12 U pon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

13 T hey cast down my path, they took advantage of my calamity, against them there was no helper.

14 T hey came in as through a wide breach; they were stirred up because of my calamity.

15 ¶ They have loosed terrors upon me; they fought my will as the wind and my saving health as a cloud that passes.

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

17 M y bones pierce me in the night, and my sinews take no rest.

18 B y the great force of my disease my garment is changed; it binds me about as the collar of my coat.

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

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me; I present myself, and thou regardest me not.

21 T hou art become cruel to me; with the strength of thy hand thou dost hate me.

22 T hou didst lift me up and cause me to ride upon the wind, and didst dissolve my being.

23 F or I know that thou dost conduct me unto death and to the house appointed for all living.

24 B ut he will not stretch out his hand against the grave; do those who are buried cry out when he destroys them?

25 D id I not weep for the one that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26 W hen I expected good, then evil came unto me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 M y bowels boil and do not rest; the days of affliction came upon me.

28 I went about darkened, but not by the sun; I stood up and cried out in the congregation.

29 I have become a brother to dragons and a companion to owls.

30 M y skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

31 M y harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.