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 would have 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, whereto the strength of their hands me, in whom vigour hath perished?

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

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

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

They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for 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 among —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.

To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks:

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

They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together:

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

Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land.

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

And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword.

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

They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they 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 my cord and afflicted me; so they 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.

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

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, without any to help them;

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

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

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 against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like 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 in 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.

The night pierceth through my bones from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest:

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

By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind 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 have 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 answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me.

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

Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest 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 be borne away, and dissolvest my substance.

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 into the house of assemblage for all living.

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

Indeed, no prayer when he stretcheth out hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.

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 whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy?

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

For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness.

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

My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted 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 about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation.

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

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

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

My skin is become black off me, and my bones are parched with heat.

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

My harp also is to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.