1“And now, laughed at me, "" Have the younger in days than I, "" Whose fathers I have loathed to set "" With the dogs of my flock. 2Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished. 3With want and with harsh famine, "" They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, "" [In] desolation and ruin, 4Those cropping mallows near a shrub, "" And their food [is] root of broom trees. 5They are cast out from the midst "" (They shout against them as a thief), 6To dwell in a frightful place of valleys, "" Holes of earth and clefts. 7They groan among shrubs, "" They are gathered together under nettles. 8Sons of folly—even sons without name, "" They have been struck from the land. 9And now, I have been their song, "" And I am to them for a byword. 10They have detested me, "" They have kept far from me, "" And from before me have not spared to spit. 11Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, "" And the bridle from before me, "" They have cast away. 12A brood arises on the right hand, "" They have cast away my feet, "" And they raise up against me, "" Their paths of calamity. 13They have broken down my path, "" They profit by my calamity: He has no helper. 14They come as a wide breach, "" Under the desolation have rolled themselves. 15He has turned terrors against me, "" It pursues my abundance as the wind, "" And as a thick cloud, "" My safety has passed away. 16And now, in me my soul pours itself out, "" Days of affliction seize me. 17[At] night my bone has been pierced in me, "" And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down. 18By the abundance of power, "" Is my clothing changed, "" As the mouth of my coat it girds me. 19Casting me into mire, "" And I have become like dust and ashes. 20I cry to You, "" And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me. 21You are turned to be fierce to me, "" With the strength of Your hand, "" You oppress me. 22You lift me up, "" You cause me to ride on the wind, "" And You melt—You level me. 23For I have known You bring me back [to] death, "" And [to] the house appointed for all living. 24Surely not against the heap "" Does He send forth the hand, "" Though they have safety in its ruin. 25Did I not weep for him whose day is hard? My soul has grieved for the needy. 26When I expected good, then comes evil, "" And I wait for light, and darkness comes. 27My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, "" Days of affliction have gone before me. 28I have gone mourning without the sun, "" I have risen, I cry in an assembly. 29I have been a brother to dragons, "" And a companion to daughters of the ostrich. 30My skin has been black on me, "" And my bone has burned from heat, 31And my harp becomes mourning, "" And my pipe the sound of weeping.” |