1 A nd now, laughed at me, Have the younger in days than I, Whose fathers I have loathed to set With the dogs of my flock.

2 A lso -- the power of their hands, why to me? On them hath old age perished.

3 W ith want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste,

4 T hose cropping mallows near a shrub, And broom-roots their food.

5 F rom the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief),

6 I n a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts.

7 A mong shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together.

8 S ons of folly -- even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.

9 A nd now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword.

10 T hey have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.

11 B ecause His cord He loosed and afflicteth me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.

12 O n the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.

13 T hey have broken down my path, By my calamity they profit, `He hath no helper.'

14 A s a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.

15 H e hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.

16 A nd now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction.

17 A t night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down.

18 B y the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me.

19 C asting me into mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.

21 T hou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppresest me.

22 T hou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest -- Thou levellest me.

23 F or I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And the house appointed for all living.

24 S urely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.

25 D id not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy.

26 W hen good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.

27 M y bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction.

28 M ourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.

29 A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.

30 M y skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,

31 A nd my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.