301 "But now those younger than I mock 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 e , even those without a name , They were scourged from the land . 9 "And now I have become their taunt , I have even become a byword to them. 10 "They abhor me and stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from spitting at my face . 11 "Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, They have cast off the bridle before e me. 12 "On the right hand their brood arises ; They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction . 13 "They break 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 " Terrors are turned against me; They pursue my honor as the wind , And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud . 16 "And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have seized me. 17 "At night it pierces my bones within e me, And my gnawing pains take no rest . 18 "By a great force my garment is distorted ; It binds me about as the collar of my coat . 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 turn Your attention against me. 21 "You have become cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You persecute me. 22 "You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride ; And You dissolve me in a storm . 23 "For I know that You will bring me to death And to the house of meeting for all living . 24 "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand , Or in his disaster therefore cry out for help ? 25 "Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard ? Was not my soul grieved for the needy ? 26 "When I expected good , then evil came ; When I waited for light , then darkness came . 27 "I am seething within and cannot relax ; Days of affliction confront me. 28 "I go about mourning without comfort; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help . 29 "I have become a brother to jackals And a companion of ostriches e . 30 "My skin turns black on me, And my bones burn with fever . 31 "Therefore my harp is turned to mourning , And my flute to the sound of those who weep .
