¹ “But now I am the laughingstock
    of people who are younger than I,
people whose fathers I would not have considered fit
    to put with the dogs guarding my flock.
² Of what use to me was the strength of their hands?
    Their vigor had completely wasted away.
³ “Enfeebled by want and hunger,
    they gnawed roots in the wilderness,
    a gloomy place of dry and desolate ground.
⁴ They plucked saltwort and scrub for food,
    and they ate the roots of the broom tree.^[a]
5 Cast out from human society
    and berated as thieves and pursued,
⁶ they were forced to live on the sides of ravines,
    in holes in the ground, and in clefts of rock.
⁷ Among the bushes you could hear them braying,
    huddled together under the nettles.
⁸ They are a vile and irresponsible brood,
    driven as outcasts from society.
⁹ “And these are the ones who speak mockingly about me;
    my name is a byword among them.
¹⁰ They abhor me and keep their distance from me;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
¹¹ And since God has loosened my bowspring^[b] and humbled me,
    they have ceased to have any restraint in my presence.
¹² “The rabble attack in a mob on my right flank;
    they lay snares for my feet
    and raise their siege-ramps against me.
¹³ They advance through my crumbling defenses,
    blocking every means of escape,
    and no one restrains them.
¹⁴ They burst forward through a gaping breach
    and advance in waves.
¹⁵ Terrors surround me on all sides;
    my confidence disintegrates,
    and my hope of deliverance vanishes like a cloud.

¹⁶ “And now my life has begun to ebb away;
    my days are filled with grief and affliction.
¹⁷ During the night pain wracks my bones,
    and I suffer from ceaseless throbbing that allows me no respite.
¹⁸ God seizes my garment violently,
    grasping me by the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ He has cast me into the mire,
    and I am covered with dust and ashes.
²⁰ “I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer me;
    I stand before you, but you barely take notice.
²¹ You have turned with severity against me;
    with your strong hand you persecute me.
²² You lift me up and place me at the mercy of the wind,
    allowing me to be tossed about in the storm.
²³ I know indeed that you will hand me over to death
    and to the place appointed for every living mortal.

²⁴ “And yet should you not extend a hand
    to someone who pleads with you for help?
²⁵ Did I not shed tears over the plight of the unfortunate?
    Was not my soul grieved for the destitute?
²⁶ Yet when I hoped for good, only evil came;
    when I looked for light, there was only darkness.
²⁷ My inward parts are in constant pain,
    and days of affliction torment me.
²⁸ “I walk about dejected and without comfort;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
²⁹ I have become a brother to the jackal
    and a companion to the ostrich.
³⁰ My skin has turned black and peels off my body,
    and my bones are scorched by heat.
³¹ My harp has been tuned to dirges,
    and my flute to the sounds of weeping.