^{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.