| 1 | And 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 | Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them hath old age perished. |
| 3 | With want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste, |
| 4 | Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And broom-roots [is] their food. |
| 5 | From the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief), |
| 6 | In a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts. |
| 7 | Among shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together. |
| 8 | Sons of folly—even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land. |
| 9 | And now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword. |
| 10 | They have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit. |
| 11 | Because His cord He loosed and afflicteth me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away. |
| 12 | On the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity. |
| 13 | They have broken down my path, By my calamity they profit, 'He hath no helper.' |
| 14 | As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves. |
| 15 | He hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away. |
| 16 | And now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction. |
| 17 | At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down. |
| 18 | By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me. |
| 19 | Casting 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 | Thou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppresest me. |
| 22 | Thou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest—Thou levellest me. |
| 23 | For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And [to] the house appointed for all living. |
| 24 | Surely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety. |
| 25 | Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy. |
| 26 | When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh. |
| 27 | My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction. |
| 28 | Mourning 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 | My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat, |
| 31 | And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping. |