1
ASV
But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2
ASV
Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished.
3
ASV
They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4
ASV
They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food.
5
ASV
They are driven forth from the midst [of men]; They cry after them as after a thief;
6
ASV
So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7
ASV
Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together.
8
ASV
[They are] children of fools, yea, children of base men; They were scourged out of the land.
9
ASV
And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them.
10
ASV
They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face.
11
ASV
For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me.
12
ASV
Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13
ASV
They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, [Even] men that have no helper.
14
ASV
As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].
15
ASV
Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
16
ASV
And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17
ASV
In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest.
18
ASV
By [God’s] great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19
ASV
He hath cast me into the mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.
20
ASV
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me.
21
ASV
Thou art turned to be cruel to me; With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.
22
ASV
Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride [upon it]; And thou dissolvest me in the storm.
23
ASV
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
24
ASV
Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
25
ASV
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26
ASV
When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27
ASV
My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me.
28
ASV
I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29
ASV
I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.
30
ASV
My skin is black, [and falleth] from me, And my bones are burned with heat.
31
ASV
Therefore is my harp [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
ASV: American Standard Version (1901). Public domain.