1 "But now those younger than I amock me, Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. 2 "Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me? Vigor had perished from them. 3 "From want and famine they are gaunt Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation, 4 Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And whose food is the root of the broom shrub. 5 "They are driven from the community; They shout against them as against a thief, 6 So that they dwell in dreadful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks. 7 "Among the bushes they cry out; Under the nettles they are gathered together. 8 "Fools, even those without a name, They were scourged from the land. 9 "And now I have become their ataunt, I have even become a bbyword to them. 10 "They abhor me and stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from aspitting at my face. 11 "Because He has loosed His bowstring and aafflicted me, They have cast off bthe bridle before me. 12 "On the right hand their brood arises; They athrust aside my feet band build up against me their ways of destruction. 13 "They abreak up my path, They profit from my destruction; No one restrains them. 14 "As through a wide breach they come, Amid the tempest they roll on. 15 "aTerrors are turned against me; They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed away blike a cloud. 16 "And now amy soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have seized me. 17 "At night it pierces amy bones within me, And my gnawing pains take no rest. 18 "By a great force my garment is adistorted; It binds me about as the collar of my coat. 19 "He has cast me into the amire, And I have become like dust and ashes. 20 "I acry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me. 21 "You have become cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You apersecute me. 22 "You alift me up to the wind and cause me to ride; And You dissolve me in a storm. 23 "For I know that You awill bring me to death And to the bhouse of meeting for all living. 24 "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, Or in his disaster therefore acry out for help? 25 "Have I not awept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for bthe needy? 26 "When I aexpected good, then evil came; When I waited for light, bthen darkness came. 27 "I am seething awithin and cannot relax; Days of affliction confront me. 28 "I go about amourning without comfort; I stand up in the assembly and bcry out for help. 29 "I have become a brother to ajackals And a companion of ostriches. 30 "My askin turns black on me, And my bbones burn with fever. 31 "Therefore my aharp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the sound of those who weep.