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[1]But now they that are younger than I, mock me: yea, they whose fathers I have refused to set with the dogs of my flocks.
[2]For whereto should the strength of their hands have served me, seeing age perished in them?
[3]For poverty and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wilderness, which is dark, desolate and waste.
[4]They cut up nettles by the bushes, and the juniper roots was their meat.
[5]They were chased forth from among men: they shouted at them, as at a thief.
[6]Therefore they dwelt in the clefts of rivers, in the holes of the earth and rocks.
[7]They roared among the bushes, and under the thistles they gathered themselves.
[8]They were the children of fools and the children of villains, which were more vile than the earth.
[9]And now am I their song, and I am their talk.
[10]They abhor me, and flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
[11]Because that God hath loosed my cord and humbled me, they have loosed the bridle before me.
[12]The youth rise up at my right hand: they have pushed my feet, and have trode on me as on the paths of their destruction.
[13]They have destroyed my paths: they took pleasure at my calamity, they had none help.
[14]They came as a great breach of waters, and under this calamity they come on heaps.
[15]Fear is turned upon me: and they pursue my soul as the wind, and mine health passeth away as a cloud.
[16]Therefore my soul is now poured out upon me, and the days of affliction have taken hold on me.
[17]It pierceth my bones in the night, and my sinews take no rest.
[18]For the great vehemency is my garment changed, which compasseth me about as the collar of my coat.
[19]He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like ashes and dust.
[20]When I cry unto thee, thou dost not hear me, neither regardest me, when I stand up.
[21]Thou turnest thyself cruelly against me, and art enemy unto me with the strength of thine hand.
[22]Thou takest me up and causest me to ride upon the wind, and makest my strength to fail.
[23]Surely I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all the living.
[24]Doubtless none can stretch his hand unto the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
[25]Did not I weep with him that was in trouble? Was not my soul in heaviness for the poor?
[26]Yet when I looked for good, evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
[27]My bowels did boil without rest: for the days of affliction are come upon me.
[28]I went mourning without sun: I stood up in the congregation and cried.
[29]I am a brother to the dragons, and a companion to the ostriches.
[30]My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
[31]Therefore mine harp is turned to mourning, and mine organs into the voice of them that weep.
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