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[1]BUT now they laugh at me, those who are less than I,
[2]Whose fathers I have disdained, and did not consider them equal to the dogs of my flocks.
[3]Yea, the strength of their hands, of what use would it have been to me?
[4]For they had lost their power completely.
[5]They were forced by bare necessities, like a thief swept off his feet,
[6]Fleeing to dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, in crevices,
[7]In rocky places, and under bushes.
[8]The children of fools shall be overthrown together with the children of the wicked; they shall be brought lower than the earth.
[9]And now I am the subject of their mocking, yea, I have become a byword to them.
[10]They abhor me, they flee far from me, and do not fail to spit in my face.
[11]Because they began to deride me and humiliate me, they have also put their bridle in my mouth.
[12]They rise up against my right hand, they have tripped me up; they have perplexed me through the crookedness of their ways.
[13]They mar my paths without a cause, they rejoice for what has befallen me; they shall have no helper.
[14]They shall suffer a great ruin; they shall be broken by the hurricane
[15]For they have brought terror upon me; they have pursued my paths like the wind; and my help has passed away like a cloud.
[16]And now my soul is weary; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
[17]In the night my bones are in pain, and my body has no strength in it.
[18]I have put on my garment; and girded up myself with my robe.
[19]But they have cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
[20]I cry to thee, and thou dost not answer me; I stand up and thou dost not consider me.
[21]Thou hast treated me as an enemy to thee; with thy strong hand thou hast restrained me.
[22]Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and then thou afflictest me, and makest me wretched.
[23]And yet I know that thou wilt bring me back from death to the meeting place for all living.
[24]But he will not stretch out his hand against me, and when I cry to him he will save me.
[25]I have wept for the poor in the daytime, and my soul was grieved for the fatherless.
[26]But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
[27]My heart was agitated, and did not rest; the days of affliction came upon me.
[28]I walked mournfully without being resentful; I stood up and wept in the congregation.
[29]I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
[30]My skin has shrunk upon me, and my bones are burned as with heat.
[31]My harp is also turned to mourning, and my song to the voice of those who weep
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