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[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 wasteness and desolation.
[4] They pluck salt-wort with wormwood; 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] In the clefts of the valleys must they dwell, 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 churls, yea, children o ignoble 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 flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
[11] For He hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before me.
[12] Upon my right hand rise the brood; they entangle my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
[13] They break up my path, they further 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 honour 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 my bones are pierced, and fall from me, and my sinews take no rest.
[18] By the great force of my disease 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 lookest at me.
[21] Thou art turned to be cruel to me; with the might of Thy hand Thou hatest me.
[22] Thou liftest me up to the wind, Thou causest me to ride upon it; and Thou dissolvest my substance.
[23] For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
[24] Surely none shall put forth his hand to a ruinous heap, neither because of these things shall help come in one's calamity,
[25] If I have not wept for him that was in trouble, and if my soul grieved not for the needy.
[26] Yet, when I looked for good, there came evil; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
[27] Mine inwards boil, and rest 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 become 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.
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