Read the Bible

¹ Young people now insult me,
    although their fathers
would have been a disgrace
    to my sheep dogs.
² And those who insult me
    are helpless themselves.
³ They must claw the desert sand
in the dark
for something
    to satisfy their hunger.^[a]
4 They gather tasteless shrubs
    for food and firewood,
⁵ and they are run out of towns,
    as though they were thieves.
⁶ Their only homes are ditches
    or holes between rocks,
⁷ where they bray like donkeys
    gathering around shrubs.
⁸ And like senseless donkeys
    they are chased away.

⁹ Those worthless nobodies
make up jokes and songs
    to disgrace me.
¹⁰ They are hateful
    and keep their distance,
even while spitting
    in my direction.
¹¹ God has destroyed me,
and so they don't care
    what they do.^[b]
12 Their attacks never stop,
though I am defenseless,
    and my feet are trapped.^[c]
13 Without any help,
    they prevent my escape,
destroying me completely^[d]
14     and leaving me crushed.
¹⁵ Terror has me surrounded;
my reputation and my riches
    have vanished like a cloud.

¹⁶ I am sick at heart!
    Pain has taken its toll.
¹⁷ Night chews on my bones,
    causing endless torment,
¹⁸ and God has shrunk my skin,
    choking me to death.
¹⁹ I have been thrown in the dirt
    and now am dirt myself.
²⁰ I beg God for help,
    but there is no answer;
and when I stand up,
    he simply stares.
²¹ God has turned brutal,
²² stirring up a windstorm
    to toss me about.
²³ Soon he will send me home
to the world of the dead,
    where we all must go.

²⁴ No one refuses help to others,
    when disaster strikes.^[e]
25 I mourned for the poor
    and those who suffered.
²⁶ But when I beg for relief
    and light,
all I receive are disaster
    and darkness.
²⁷ My stomach is tied in knots;
    pain is my daily companion.
²⁸ Suffering has scorched my skin,
and in the city council
    I stand and cry out,
²⁹ making mournful sounds
    like jackals^[f] and owls.
³⁰ My skin is so parched,
that it peels right off,
    and my bones are burning.
³¹ My only songs are sorrow
    and sadness.