1 BUT now they laugh at me, those who are less than I,

2 Whose fathers I have disdained, and did not consider them equal to the dogs of my flocks.

3 Yea, the strength of their hands, of what use would it have been to me?

4 For they had lost their power completely.

5 They were forced by bare necessities, like a thief swept off his feet,

6 Fleeing to dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, in crevices,

7 In rocky places, and under bushes.

8 The children of fools shall be overthrown together with the children of the wicked; they shall be brought lower than the earth.

9 And now I am the subject of their mocking, yea, I have become a byword to them.

10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and do not fail to spit in my face.

11 Because they began to deride me and humiliate me, they have also put their bridle in my mouth.

12 They rise up against my right hand, they have tripped me up; they have perplexed me through the crookedness of their ways.

13 They mar my paths without a cause, they rejoice for what has befallen me; they shall have no helper.

14 They shall suffer a great ruin; they shall be broken by the hurricane.

15 For they have brought terror upon me; they have pursued my paths like the wind; and my help has passed away like a cloud.

16 And now my soul is weary; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 In the night my bones are in pain, and my body has no strength in it.

18 I have put on my garment; and girded up myself with my robe.

19 But they have cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry to thee, and thou dost not answer me; I stand up and thou dost not consider me.

21 Thou hast treated me as an enemy to thee; with thy strong hand thou hast restrained me.

22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and then thou afflictest me, and makest me wretched.

23 And yet I know that thou wilt bring me back from death to the meeting place for all living.

24 But he will not stretch out his hand against me, and when I cry to him he will save me.

25 I have wept for the poor in the daytime, and my soul was grieved for the fatherless.

26 But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 My heart was agitated, and did not rest; the days of affliction came upon me.

28 I walked mournfully without being resentful; I stood up and wept in the congregation.

29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.

30 My skin has shrunk upon me, and my bones are burned as with heat.

31 My harp is also turned to mourning, and my song to the voice of those who weep.