1 B ut now they 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 Y ea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

3 F or want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

4 W ho cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

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

6 T o dwell in the cliffs 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 children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

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

10 T hey abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

11 B ecause he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

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 mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

14 T hey came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

15 T errors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

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

17 M y bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

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

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

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

21 T hou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

22 T hou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

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

24 H owbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

25 D id not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

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

27 M y bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

29 I am 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 also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.