² “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,
³ when his ^(B)lamp shone upon my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴ as I was in my prime,^[a]
    when the ^(C)friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵ when the Almighty was yet with me,
    when my ^(D)children were all around me,
⁶ when my steps were ^(E)washed with ^(F)butter,
    and ^(G)the rock poured out for me streams of ^(H)oil!
⁷ When I went out to ^(I)the gate of the city,
    when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose and stood;
⁹ the princes refrained from talking
    and ^(J)laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ the voice of the nobles was hushed,
    and their ^(K)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹² because I ^(L)delivered the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to help him.
^13 (M)The blessing of him who was ^(N)about to perish came upon me,
    and I caused ^(O)the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I ^(P)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and ^(Q)a turban.
¹⁵ I was ^(R)eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
    and I searched out ^(S)the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷ I ^(T)broke ^(U)the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
^18 (V)Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^(W)nest,
    and I shall multiply my days as ^(X)the sand,
¹⁹ my ^(Y)roots spread out to ^(Z)the waters,
    with the dew all night on my ^(AA)branches,
²⁰ my glory fresh with me,
    and my ^(AB)bow ever ^(AC)new in my hand.’

²¹ “Men listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.
²² After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word ^(AD)dropped upon them.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they ^(AE)opened their mouths as for the ^(AF)spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and ^(AG)the light of my ^(AH)face they did not cast down.
²⁵ I chose their way and sat as chief,
    and I lived like ^(AI)a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.

30 “But now they ^(AJ)laugh at me,
    men who are ^(AK)younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.
² What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
    ^(AL)men whose ^(AM)vigor is gone?
³ Through want and hard hunger
    they ^(AN)gnaw ^(AO)the dry ground by night in ^(AP)waste and desolation;
⁴ they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
    and the roots of the broom tree for their food.^[b]
5 (AQ)They are driven out from human company;
    they shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
    in holes of the earth and of ^(AR)the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they ^(AS)bray;
    under ^(AT)the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, a nameless brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ “And now I have become their ^(AU)song;
    I am ^(AV)a byword to them.
¹⁰ They ^(AW)abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to ^(AX)spit at the sight of me.
¹¹ Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
    they have cast off restraint^[c] in my presence.
¹² On my ^(AY)right hand the rabble rise;
    they push away my feet;
    they ^(AZ)cast up against me their ways of destruction.
¹³ They break up my path;
    they promote my ^(BA)calamity;
    they need no one to help them.
¹⁴ As through a wide ^(BB)breach they come;
    amid the crash they roll on.
^15 (BC)Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like ^(BD)a cloud.

¹⁶ “And now my soul is ^(BE)poured out within me;
    days of affliction have taken hold of me.
^17 (BF)The night ^(BG)racks my bones,
    and the pain that ^(BH)gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With great force my garment is ^(BI)disfigured;
    it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ God^[d] has cast me into the mire,
    and I have become like ^(BJ)dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
    I stand, and you only look at me.
²¹ You have ^(BK)turned cruel to me;
    with the might of your hand you ^(BL)persecute me.
^22 (BM)You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
    and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
^23 (BN)For I know that you will bring me to death
    and to the house appointed for ^(BO)all living.

²⁴ “Yet does not one in a ^(BP)heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
    and in his disaster cry for help?^[e]
25 Did not I ^(BQ)weep for him whose day was hard?
    Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
²⁶ But ^(BR)when I hoped for good, evil came,
    and when I waited for light, ^(BS)darkness came.
²⁷ My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
    days of affliction ^(BT)come to meet me.
²⁸ I ^(BU)go about darkened, but not by the sun;
    I stand up in ^(BV)the assembly and cry for help.
²⁹ I am a brother of ^(BW)jackals
    and a companion of ^(BX)ostriches.
³⁰ My ^(BY)skin turns black and falls from me,
    and my ^(BZ)bones burn with heat.
³¹ My ^(CA)lyre is ^(CB)turned to mourning,
    and my ^(CC)pipe to the voice of those who weep.