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1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. |
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2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? |
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3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. |
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4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. |
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5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) |
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6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. |
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7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. |
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8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. |
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9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. |
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10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. |
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11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. |
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12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. |
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13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. |
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14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. |
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15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. |
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16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. |
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17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. |
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18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. |
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19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. |
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20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. |
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21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. |
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22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. |
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23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. |
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24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. |
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25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? |
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26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. |
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27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. |
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28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. |
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29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. |
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30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. |
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31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. |
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