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.
1“But now they mock me,
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.
2Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
3Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed30:3 Or gnawed the parched land
in desolate wastelands at night.
4In the brush they gathered salt herbs,
and their food30:4 Or fuel was the root of the broom bush.
5They were banished from human society,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
6They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7They brayed among the bushes
and huddled in the undergrowth.
8A base and nameless brood,
they were driven out of the land.
9“And now those young men mock me in song;
I have become a byword among them.
10They detest me and keep their distance;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,
they throw off restraint in my presence.
12On my right the tribe30:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. attacks;
they lay snares for my feet,
they build their siege ramps against me.
13They break up my road;
they succeed in destroying me.
‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14They advance as through a gaping breach;
amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15Terrors overwhelm me;
my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
my safety vanishes like a cloud.
16“And now my life ebbs away;
days of suffering grip me.
17Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.
18In his great power God becomes like clothing to me30:18 Hebrew; Septuagint power he grasps my clothing;
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19He throws me into the mud,
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20“I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21You turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of your hand you attack me.
22You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
you toss me about in the storm.
23I know you will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
24“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man
when he cries for help in his distress.
25Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
28I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29I have become a brother of jackals,
a companion of owls.
30My skin grows black and peels;
my body burns with fever.
31My lyre is tuned to mourning,
and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
