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[1] 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] Yes, to what might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age had perished?
[3] For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
[4] Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their food.
[5] They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them, as after a thief;)
[6] To dwell in the clefts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
[7] Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were collected.
[8] They were children of fools, yes, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
[9] And now I am their song, yes, I am their by-word.
[10] They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
[11] Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
[12] Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
[13] They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
[14] They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
[15] Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
[16] And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
[17] My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
[18] By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
[19] He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
[20] I cry to thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
[21] Thou hast become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
[22] Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
[23] For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
[24] Yet he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
[25] Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
[26] When I looked for good, then evil came: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
[27] My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction came upon me.
[28] I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
[29] I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
[30] My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
[31] My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
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