^{1 Ref} But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.

² Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.

^{3 Ref} They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.

^{4 Ref} They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.

^{5 Ref} They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves

^{6 Ref} They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.

^{7 Ref} They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.

^{8 Ref} They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.

^{9 Ref} And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.

^{10 Ref} I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.

^{11 Ref} For he has made loose the cord of my bow, and put me to shame; he has sent down my flag to the earth before me.

^{12 Ref} The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:

^{13 Ref} They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;

^{14 Ref} As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.

^{15 Ref} Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.

^{16 Ref} But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:

^{17 Ref} The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.

^{18 Ref} With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.

^{19 Ref} Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.

^{20 Ref} You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.

^{21 Ref} You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.

^{22 Ref} Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.

^{23 Ref} For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.

^{24 Ref} Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?

^{25 Ref} Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?

^{26 Ref} For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.

^{27 Ref} My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.

^{28 Ref} I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.

^{29 Ref} I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.

^{30 Ref} My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.

^{31 Ref} And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.

^{1 Ref} 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 Ref} With want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste,

^{4 Ref} Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And broom-roots `is' their food.

^{5 Ref} From the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief),

^{6 Ref} In a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts.

^{7 Ref} Among shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together.

^{8 Ref} Sons of folly -- even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.

^{9 Ref} And now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword.

^{10 Ref} They have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.

^{11 Ref} Because His cord He loosed and afflicteth me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.

^{12 Ref} 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 Ref} They have broken down my path, By my calamity they profit, `He hath no helper.'

^{14 Ref} As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.

^{15 Ref} He hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.

^{16 Ref} And now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction.

^{17 Ref} At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down.

^{18 Ref} By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me.

^{19 Ref} Casting me into mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.

^{20 Ref} I cry unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.

^{21 Ref} Thou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppresest me.

^{22 Ref} Thou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest -- Thou levellest me.

^{23 Ref} For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And `to' the house appointed for all living.

^{24 Ref} Surely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.

^{25 Ref} Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy.

^{26 Ref} When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.

^{27 Ref} My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction.

^{28 Ref} Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.

^{29 Ref} A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.

^{30 Ref} My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,

^{31 Ref} And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.

^{1 Ref} "But now those who are younger than I, have me in derision, Whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

² Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, Men in whom ripe age has perished?

^{3 Ref} They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.

^{4 Ref} They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. 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, And in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

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

^{8 Ref} They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.

^{9 Ref} "Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.

^{10 Ref} They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And don't hesitate to spit in my face.

^{11 Ref} For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; And they have thrown off restraint before me.

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

^{13 Ref} They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, Without anyone's help.

^{14 Ref} As through a wide breach they come, In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.

^{15 Ref} Terrors are turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

^{16 Ref} "Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.

^{17 Ref} In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

^{18 Ref} By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

^{19 Ref} He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.

^{20 Ref} I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

^{21 Ref} You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

^{22 Ref} You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

^{23 Ref} For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

^{24 Ref} "However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

^{25 Ref} Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?

^{26 Ref} When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.

^{27 Ref} My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

^{28 Ref} I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

^{29 Ref} I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.

^{30 Ref} My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.

^{31 Ref} Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.