| 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 | Yea, whereto [should] the strength of their hands [profit] me, [men] in whom vigour hath perished? |
| 3 | Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert: |
| 4 | They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food. |
| 5 | They are driven forth from among [men] -- they cry after them as after a thief -- |
| 6 | To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks: |
| 7 | They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together: |
| 8 | Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land. |
| 9 | And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword. |
| 10 | They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face. |
| 11 | For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me. |
| 12 | At [my] right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways; |
| 13 | They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them; |
| 14 | They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward. |
| 15 | Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud. |
| 16 | And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me. |
| 17 | The night pierceth through my bones [and detacheth them] from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest: |
| 18 | By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind 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 unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me. |
| 21 | Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me. |
| 22 | Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance. |
| 23 | For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living. |
| 24 | Indeed, no prayer [availeth] when he stretcheth out [his] hand: though they cry when he destroyeth. |
| 25 | Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy? |
| 26 | For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness. |
| 27 | My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me. |
| 28 | I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation. |
| 29 | I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches. |
| 30 | My skin is become black [and falleth] off me, and my bones are parched with heat. |
| 31 | My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers. |
