30 But now they mock^(A) me,
men younger than I am,
whose fathers I would have refused to put
with my sheep dogs.
² What use to me was the strength of their hands?
Their vigor had left them.
³ Emaciated from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
the desolate wasteland by night.
⁴ They plucked mallow^[a](B) among the shrubs,
and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
⁵ They were banished from human society;
people shouted at them as if they were thieves.
⁶ They are living on the slopes of the wadis,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
⁷ They bray among the shrubs;
they huddle beneath the thistles.
⁸ Foolish^(C) men, without even a name.
They were forced to leave the land.

⁹ Now I am mocked by their songs;^(D)
I have become an object of scorn to them.
¹⁰ They despise me and keep their distance from me;^(E)
they do not hesitate to spit^(F) in my face.
¹¹ Because God has loosened my^[b] bowstring and oppressed me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.^(G)
12 The rabble^[c] rise up at my right;
they trap^[d] my feet
and construct their siege ramp^[e] against me.^(H)
13 They tear up my path;
they contribute to my destruction,^(I)
without anyone to help them.
¹⁴ They advance as through a gaping breach;
they keep rolling in through the ruins.^(J)
15 Terrors^(K) are turned loose against me;
they chase my dignity away like the wind,
and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.