1“But now they mock me,
men younger than I am,
whose fathers I would have refused
to put with my sheep dogs.
1“ And now they laugh at me, the fewer in days than I, whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
2What use to me was the strength of their hands,
since their vigor had left them?
2Indeed, the strength of their hands, what is it to me? Upon them vigor has perished,
3Gaunt from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
and the desolate wasteland by night.
3in poverty and in harsh hunger, ones gnawing the dry ground by night, in ruin and desolation.
4They plucked mallow among the shrubs,
and the roots of the broom tree were their food.a
4They are plucking mallow among the brush, and the root of the broom tree is their bread.
5They were banished from among men,
shouted at like thieves,
5From the midst of people they are driven out; they shout at them as at a thief.
6so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
6On the slope of wadis they are to dwell, in holes of the dust and rocks.
7They cried out among the shrubs
and huddled beneath the nettles.
7Among the shrubs they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
8A senseless and nameless brood,
they were driven off the land.
8Sons of a fool, even sons without a name, they were scourged from the land.
9And now they mock me in song;
I have become a byword among them.
9And now I have become their song, and I have become a byword among them.
10They abhor me and keep far from me;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
10They abhor me and keep far from me; and from my face they do not withhold spit.
11Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,
they have cast off restrainta in my presence.
11For my bowstring he has loosed and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before me.
12The rabble arises at my right;
they lay snares for my feet
and build siege ramps against me.
12On the right a brood arises; they push away my feet, and they build up against me the ways of destruction.
13They tear up my path;
they profit from my destruction,
with no one to restrain them.a
13They break up my path; they advance my calamity, with no one helping them.
14They advance as through a wide breach;
through the ruins they keep rolling in.
14As a wide breach they come; amid the ruin they roll on.
15Terrors are turned loose against me;
they drive away my dignity as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
15Terrors are turned over upon me; like the wind it pursues my honor, and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away.
16And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction grip me.
16And now within me my soul is poured out; days of affliction seize me.
17Night pierces my bones,
and my gnawing pains never rest.
17Night pierces my bones from upon me, and my gnawing pains will not lie down.
18With great force He grasps my garment;a
He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.
18With abundance of strength He grasps my garment; by the collar of my tunic He seizes me.
19He throws me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
19He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer;
when I stand up, You merely look at me.
20I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You gaze at me.
21You have ruthlessly turned on me;
You oppose me with Your strong hand.
21You have turned to be cruel toward me; with the strength of Your hand You oppose me.
22You snatch me up into the wind
and drive me before it;
You toss me abouta in the storm.
22You lift me up to the wind and make me ride it, You toss me about in the storm.
23Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
23For I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house of appointment to all the living.
24Yet no one stretches out his hand against a ruined man
when he cries for help in his distress.
24Surely one does not stretch out a hand against the oppressed, when in his ruin he cries out to him.
25Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
25If not did I weep for the harshness of day, while my soul grieved for the needy one?
26But when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, darkness fell.
26And, I hoped for good, and evil came; and I waited for light, and darkness came.
27I am churning within and cannot rest;
days of affliction confront me.
27My bowels have boiled and they do not rest; days of affliction confront me.
28I go about blackened, but not by the sun.
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
28I go about darkened, not by the sun; I rise up in the assembly and cry out.
29I have become a brother of jackals,a
a companion of ostriches.b
29I have become a brother to jackals, and a companion to the daughters of the ostrich.
30My skin grows black and peels,
and my bones burn with fever.
30My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bone burns with heat.
31My harp is tuned to mourning
and my flute to the sound of weeping.
31And my harp is changed to mourning, and my flute to the voice of weeping.