^{1 Ref} 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 Ref} They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.

^{4 Ref} They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food.

^{5 Ref} They are driven forth from the midst `of men'; They cry after them as after a thief;

^{6 Ref} So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.

^{7 Ref} Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together.

^{8 Ref} `They are' children of fools, yea, children of base men; They were scourged out of the land.

^{9 Ref} And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them.

^{10 Ref} They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face.

^{11 Ref} For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me.

^{12 Ref} Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.