| 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. |