1 But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yes, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age has perished.
3 They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the desert, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food.
5 They are driven forth from the midst [of men]; They cry after them as after a thief;
6 So that they stay in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 [They are] sons of fools, yes, sons of base men; They were scourged out of the land.
9 And now I have become their song, Yes, I am a byword to them.
10 They are disgusted by me, they stand aloof from me, And do not spare to spit in my face.
11 For he has loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me.
12 On my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, [Even] men who have no helper.
14 As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [on me].
15 Terrors are turned on me; They chase my honor as the wind; And my welfare has passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out inside me; Days of affliction have taken hold on me.
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest.
18 By [God's] great force is my garment disfigured; It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire, And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me: I stand up, and you gaze at me.
21 You have turned to be cruel to me; With the might of your hand you persecute me.
22 You lift me up to the wind, you cause me to ride [on it]; And you dissolve me in the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
24 Nevertheless, does not one stretch out his hand when he falls? And, when he is ruined, cry for help because of it?
25 Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My insides are troubled, and do not rest; Days of affliction have come upon me.
28 I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin is black, [and falls] from me, And my bones are burned with heat.
31 Therefore my harp is [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.