1 “ But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

“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.

2 O f what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?

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

3 T hey are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.

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

4 T hey pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.

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

5 T hey are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief;

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

6 S o that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

So they live in valleys made by floods, in caves of the earth and of the rocks.

7 A mong the bushes they bray; and under the nettles they are gathered together.

Among the bushes they cry out. They gather together under the thistles.

8 T hey are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.

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

9 “ Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.

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

10 T hey abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.

They hate me and keep away from me, but they spit in my face.

11 F or he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.

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

12 O n my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.

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

13 T hey mar my path, They set forward my calamity, without anyone’s help.

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

14 A s through a wide breach they come, in the middle of the ruin they roll themselves in.

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

15 T errors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

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

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

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

17 I n the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

Night cuts into my bones with pain. The pain keeps on and takes no rest.

18 B y great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

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

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

God has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

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

21 Y ou have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

You work against me. With the power of Your hand you make it hard for me.

22 Y ou lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

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

23 F or I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

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

24 “ However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

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

25 D idn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?

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

26 W hen I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.

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

27 M y heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

My heart is troubled and does not rest. Days of trouble are before me.

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

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

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

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

30 M y skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.

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

31 T herefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

So my harp is turned to sorrow, and my horn to the sound of crying.