- 1
- 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
- They are gaunt with want and famine;
They gnaw the dry ground, 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 dwell 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] children of fools, yea, children of base men;
They were scourged out of the land.
- 9
- And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them.
- 10
- They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face.
- 11
- For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me;
And they have cast off the bridle before me.
- 12
- Upon 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 that have no helper.
- 14
- As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].
- 15
- Terrors are turned upon me;
They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
- 16
- And now my soul is poured out within me;
Days of affliction have taken hold upon 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 bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
- 19
- He hath cast me into the mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.
- 20
- I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me.
- 21
- Thou art turned to be cruel to me;
With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.
- 22
- Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride [upon it];
And thou dissolvest me in the storm.
- 23
- For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
- 24
- Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall?
Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
- 25
- Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?
Was not 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 heart is troubled, and resteth not;
Days of affliction are 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 falleth] from me, And my bones are burned with heat.
- 31
- Therefore is my harp [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
|