1 “ But now those who are younger than I make fun of me. I thought so little of their fathers that I did not want them with my sheep dogs.

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 Y es, what good could I get from the strength of their hands? Their strength was gone.

Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished.

3 T heir bodies are thin and in need of food. At night they bite the dry ground in the waste land.

They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.

4 T hey pick plants that taste of salt among the bushes. And they eat the root of the broom bush.

They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food.

5 T hey are driven away from people. Men call out against them as if they were robbers.

They are driven forth from the midst of men; They cry after them as after a thief;

6 S o they live in valleys made by floods, in caves of the earth and of the rocks.

So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7 A mong the bushes they cry out. They gather together under the thistles.

Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together.

8 T hey are fools and they have no name. They have been driven out of the land.

They are children of fools, yea, children of base men; They were scourged out of the land.

9 “ Now they make fun of me in song. They laugh at me.

And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them.

10 T hey hate me and keep away from me, but they spit in my face.

They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face.

11 B ecause God has made the string of my bow loose and has troubled me, they have thrown off their respect for me.

For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me.

12 T heir bad group comes to my right. They push me away and trip my feet, and make ways to destroy me.

Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13 T hey break up my path. They make trouble for me, and no one stops them.

They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, Even men that have no helper.

14 T hey come as if through a wide hole in the wall, and roll on with much noise.

As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.

15 F ears come upon me. They go after my honor like the wind. And my well-being has passed away like a cloud.

Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.

16 “ Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of trouble have taken hold of me.

And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 N ight cuts into my bones with pain. The pain keeps on and takes no rest.

In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

18 M y clothing is torn by a strong power. It pulls against me like the top of my coat.

By God's great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19 G od has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

He hath cast me into the mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me. I stand up, and You turn away from me.

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me.

21 Y ou work against me. With the power of Your hand you make it hard for me.

Thou art turned to be cruel to me; With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.

22 Y ou lift me up to the wind and make it carry me. You throw me around in the storm.

Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride upon it; And thou dissolvest me in the storm.

23 F or I know that You will bring me to death, to the place for all the living.

For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.

24 “ Yet does not one in a destroyed place put out his hand, and in his trouble cry out for help?

Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

25 H ave I not cried for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul filled with sorrow for the poor?

Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26 W hen I expected good, then trouble came. When I waited for light, darkness came.

When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 M y heart is troubled and does not rest. Days of trouble are before me.

My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me.

28 I go about full of sorrow without comfort. I stand up where the people are gathered and cry out for help.

I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

29 I have become a brother to wild dogs, and a friend of ostriches.

I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.

30 M y skin becomes black and falls from me. My bones burn because I am sick.

My skin is black, and falleth from me, And my bones are burned with heat.

31 S o my harp is turned to sorrow, and my horn to the sound of crying.

Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.