Chapter 30
1 " But now those who are younger than I have me in derision , whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs .
2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me , men in whom ripe age has perished?
3 They are gaunt from lack and famine . They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation .
4 They pluck salt herbs by the bushes . The roots of the broom tree are their food .
5 They are driven out from amongst men. They cry after them as after a thief ,
6 so that they live in frightful valleys , and in holes of the earth and of the rocks .
7 They bray amongst the bushes . They are gathered together under the nettles .
8 They are children of fools , yes , children of wicked men . They were flogged out of the land.
9 " Now I have become their song . Yes, I am a byword to them .
10 They abhor me , they stand aloof from me , and don’t hesitate to spit in my face .
11 For he has untied his cord , and afflicted me ; and they have thrown off restraint before me .
12 On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet . They cast their ways of destruction up against me .
13 They mar my path . They promote my destruction without anyone’s help .
14 As through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin.
15 Terrors have turned on me . They chase my honour as the wind . My welfare has passed away as a cloud .
16 " Now my soul is poured out within me . Days of affliction have taken hold of me .
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me , and the pains that gnaw me take no rest .
18 My garment is disfigured by great force . It binds me about as the collar of my tunic .
19 He has cast me into the mire . I have become like dust and ashes .
20 I cry to you , and you do not answer me . I stand up , and you gaze at me .
21 You have turned to be cruel to me . With the might of your hand you persecute me .
22 You lift me up to the wind , and drive me with it . You dissolve me in the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death , to the house appointed for all living .
24 "However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help ?
25 Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble ? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?
26 When I looked for good , then evil came . When I waited for light, darkness came .
27 My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest . Days of affliction have come on me .
28 I go mourning without the sun . I stand up in the assembly , and cry for help .
29 I am a brother to jackals , and a companion to ostriches .
30 My skin grows black and peels from me . My bones are burnt with heat .
31 Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep .