1 “But now those younger than I laugh at me,Whose fathers I rejectedevento put with the dogs of my flock.2 “Indeed, whatgood wasthe 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 destruction and desolation,4 Who pluck 30:4Plant of the salt marshes mallow by the bushes,And whose food is the root of the broom tree.5 “They are driven from the community;They shout against them asagainsta thief,6 So that they dwell in the slopes of the 30:6Or wadis valleys,In holes of the dust and of the rocks.7 “Among the bushes they 30:7Or bray cry out;Under the nettles they are gathered together.8 “ 30:8Lit Sons of fools Wicked fools, even 30:8Lit sons those without a name,They were scourged from the land.9 ¶“And now I have become theirmockingsong;I have even become atauntingword to them.10 “They abhor meandkeep a distance from me,And they do not 30:10Lit withhold spit from my face hold back from spitting at my face.11 “Because 30:11Or they He has loosed 30:11Some mss my His 30:11Or cord bowstring and afflicted me,They have thrust asidetheirbridle before me.12 “On the right hand their 30:12Possibly sprout, offspring brood arises;They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways to disaster.13 “They break up my path;They profit 30:13Lit for from my destruction;They have no helper.14 “Asthrougha wide breach they come, 30:14Lit Under Amid the storm they roll on.15 “Terrors are turned against me;They pursue my nobility as the wind,And myhope forsalvation has passed away like a cloud.16 ¶“And now my soul is poured out 30:16Lit upon within me;Days of affliction have seized me.17 “At night it pierces my bones 30:17 Lit from upon within me,And my gnawingpainstake no rest.18 “By a great force my garment is distorted;It seizes me about as the collar of my tunic.19 “He has cast me into the mire,And I have become like dust and ashes.20 “I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;I stand up, and You carefully considerhow to beagainst me.21 “You have 30:21Lit turned to be become cruel to me;With the might of Your hand You hunted me down.22 “You lift me up to the windandcause me to ride;And You melt me away in a storm.23 “For I know that You will bring me to deathAnd to the house of meeting for all living.24 ¶“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch outhishand,Or, in his upheaval, is there a cry for help because of them?25 “Have I not wept for the 30:25Lit hard of day one whose life is hard?Was not my soul grieved for the needy?26 “When I hoped for good, then evil came;When I waited for light, then thick darkness came.27 “ 30:27Lit My inward parts are boiling I am boiling within and cannot be silent;Days of affliction confront me.28 “I go about darkenedbutnot by the sun;I stand up in the assemblyandcry out for help.29 “I have become a brother to jackalsAnd a companion of ostriches.30 “My skin turns black 30:30Lit from upon on me,And my bones burn with 30:30Lit heat fever.31 “Therefore my harp 30:31Lit becomes is turned to mourning,And my flute to the sound of those who weep.