1. |
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. |
Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished. |
3. |
They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation. |
4. |
They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food. |
5. |
They are driven forth from the midst `of men'; They cry after them as after a thief; |
6. |
So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks. |
7. |
Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together. |
8. |
`They are' children of fools, yea, children of base men; They were scourged out of the land. |
9. |
And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them. |
10. |
They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face. |
11. |
For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me. |
12. |
Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction. |
13. |
They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, `Even' men that have no helper. |
14. |
As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves `upon me'. |
15. |
Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud. |
16. |
And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have taken hold upon me. |
17. |
In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the `pains' that gnaw me take no rest. |
18. |
By `God's' great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. |
19. |
He hath cast me into the mire, And I am become like dust and ashes. |
20. |
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me. |
21. |
Thou art turned to be cruel to me; With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me. |
22. |
Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride `upon it'; And thou dissolvest me in the storm. |
23. |
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living. |
24. |
Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help? |
25. |
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? |
26. |
When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness. |
27. |
My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me. |
28. |
I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. |
29. |
I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches. |
30. |
My skin is black, `and falleth' from me, And my bones are burned with heat. |
31. |
Therefore is my harp `turned' to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep. |