1
“And now, laughed at me, || Have the younger in days than I, || Whose fathers I have loathed to set || With the dogs of my flock.
2
Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished.
3
With want and with harsh famine, || They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, || [In] desolation and ruin,
4
Those cropping mallows near a shrub, || And their food [is] root of broom trees.
5
They are cast out from the midst || (They shout against them as a thief),
6
To dwell in a frightful place of valleys, || Holes of earth and clefts.
7
They groan among shrubs, || They are gathered together under nettles.
8
Sons of folly—even sons without name, || They have been struck from the land.
9
And now, I have been their song, || And I am to them for a byword.
10
They have detested me, || They have kept far from me, || And from before me have not spared to spit.
11
Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, || And the bridle from before me, || They have cast away.
12
A brood arises on the right hand, || They have cast away my feet, || And they raise up against me, || Their paths of calamity.
13
They have broken down my path, || They profit by my calamity: He has no helper.
14
They come as a wide breach, || Under the desolation have rolled themselves.
15
He has turned terrors against me, || It pursues my abundance as the wind, || And as a thick cloud, || My safety has passed away.
16
And now, in me my soul pours itself out, || Days of affliction seize me.
17
[At] night my bone has been pierced in me, || And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down.
18
By the abundance of power, || Is my clothing changed, || As the mouth of my coat it girds me.
19
Casting me into mire, || And I have become like dust and ashes.
20
I cry to You, || And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me.
21
You are turned to be fierce to me, || With the strength of Your hand, || You oppress me.
22
You lift me up, || You cause me to ride on the wind, || And You melt—You level me.
23
For I have known You bring me back [to] death, || And [to] the house appointed for all living.
24
Surely not against the heap || Does He send forth the hand, || Though they have safety in its ruin.
25
Did I not weep for him whose day is hard? My soul has grieved for the needy.
26
When I expected good, then comes evil, || And I wait for light, and darkness comes.
27
My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, || Days of affliction have gone before me.
28
I have gone mourning without the sun, || I have risen, I cry in an assembly.
29
I have been a brother to dragons, || And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30
My skin has been black on me, || And my bone has burned from heat,
31
And my harp becomes mourning, || And my pipe the sound of weeping.”
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