1“But now those who are younger than I am make fun of me.
I wouldn’t even put their parents with my sheep dogs!
2Their strong hands couldn’t give me any help.
That’s because their strength was gone.
3They were weak because they were needy and hungry.
They wandered through dry and empty deserts at night.
4Among the bushes they gathered salty plants.
They ate the roots of desert bushes.
5They were driven away from human society.
They were shouted at as if they were robbers.
6They were forced to live in dry stream beds.
They had to stay among rocks
and in holes in the ground.
7Like donkeys they cried out among the bushes.
There they crowded together and hid.
8They were so foolish that no one respected them.
They were driven out of the land.
9“Now their children laugh at me.
They make fun of me with their songs.
10They hate me. They stay away from me.
They even dare to spit in my face.
11God has made my body weak.
It’s like a tent that has fallen down.
So those children do what they want to in front of me.
12Many people attack me on my right side.
They lay traps for my feet.
They come at me from every direction.
13They tear up the road I walk on.
They succeed in destroying me.
They say, ‘No one can help him.’
14They attack me like troops smashing through a wall.
Among the destroyed buildings they come rolling in.
15Terrors sweep over me.
My honor is driven away as if by the wind.
My safety vanishes like a cloud.
16“Now my life is slipping away.
Days of suffering grab hold of me.
17At night my bones hurt.
My aches and pains never stop.
18God’s great power becomes like clothes to me.
He chokes me like the neck of my shirt.
19He throws me down into the mud.
I’m nothing but dust and ashes.
20“God, I cry out to you. But you don’t answer me.
I stand up. But all you do is look at me.
21You do mean things to me.
You attack me with your mighty power.
22You pick me up and blow me away with the wind.
You toss me around in the storm.
23I know that you will bring me down to death.
That’s what you have appointed for everyone.
24“No one would crush people
when they cry out for help in their trouble.
25Haven’t I wept for those who are in trouble?
Haven’t I felt sorry for poor people?
26I hoped good things would happen, but something evil came.
I looked for light, but all I saw was darkness.
27My insides are always churning.
Nothing but days of suffering are ahead of me.
28My skin has become dark, but the sun didn’t do it.
I stand up in the community and cry out for help.
29I’ve become a brother to wild dogs.
Owls are my companions.
30My skin grows black and peels.
My body burns with fever.
31My lyre is tuned to sadness.
My flute makes a sound like weeping.
1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.30.1 younger…: Heb. of fewer days than I 2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? 3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.30.3 solitary: or, dark as the night30.3 in…: Heb. yesternight 4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. 5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) 6To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.30.6 caves: Heb. holes 7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. 8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.30.8 base…: Heb. men of no name 9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. 10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.30.10 and…: Heb. and withhold not spittle from 11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. 12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. 13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. 14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.30.15 my soul: Heb. my principal one 16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. 18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. 19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. 20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. 21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.30.21 become…: Heb. turned to be cruel30.21 thy…: Heb. the strength of thy hand 22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.30.22 substance: or, wisdom 23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. 24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.30.24 grave: Heb. heap 25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?30.25 in trouble: Heb. hard of day? 26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. 27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. 28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. 29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.30.29 owls: or, ostriches 30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. 31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
