Read the Bible

¹ "But now men younger than I make fun of me—
    men whose fathers were too worthless to put with my sheep dogs.
² Their fathers are still too weak to be of any use to me.
    All their strength is gone.
³ They are starving with nothing to eat,
    so they chew on the dry, ruined land.
⁴ They pull up salt plants in the desert
    and eat the roots from the broom tree.
⁵ They are forced away from other people,
    who shout at them as if they were thieves.
⁶ They must live in the dry riverbeds,
    hillside caves, and holes in the ground.
⁷ They howl in the bushes
    and huddle together under thornbushes.
⁸ They are a bunch of worthless people without names,
    who were forced to leave their country.

⁹ "Now their sons sing songs to make fun of me.
    My name has become a bad word to them.
¹⁰ They hate me and stay far away from me,
    except when they come to spit in my face!
¹¹ God has taken the string from my bow and made me weak,
    so they feel free to do whatever they want to me.
¹² They attack me on my right side.
    They knock my feet out from under me.
    They build ramps to attack and destroy me like a city.
¹³ They guard the road so that I cannot escape.
    They succeed in destroying me, without help from anyone.
¹⁴ They break a hole in the wall and come rushing through it,
    and the crashing rocks fall on me.
¹⁵ I am shaking with fear.
    They chased my honor away like dust in the wind.
    My safety disappears like a cloud.

¹⁶ "Now my life is almost gone, and soon I will die.
    Days of suffering have grabbed me.
¹⁷ All my bones ache at night.
    Pain never stops chewing on me.
¹⁸ God grabbed the collar of my coat
    and twisted my clothes out of shape.
¹⁹ He threw me into the mud,
    and I became like dust and ashes.

²⁰ "God, I cry out to you for help, but you don't answer.
    I stand up and pray, but you don't pay attention to me.
²¹ You have become cruel to me;
    you use your power to hurt me.
²² You let the strong wind blow me away.
    You throw me around in the storm.
²³ I know you will lead me to my death,
    to that place where all the living must go.

²⁴ "Surely no one would attack a man who is already ruined,
    when he is hurt and crying for help.
²⁵ God, you know that I cried for those who were in trouble.
    You know that I mourned for the poor.
²⁶ But when I hoped for good, trouble came instead.
    When I looked for light, darkness came.
²⁷ I constantly feel upset.
    And my suffering has only just begun.
²⁸ I am always sad and depressed, without any relief.
    I stand up in the public meeting and cry for help,
²⁹ making sad sounds like the wild dogs,
    like the ostriches in the desert.
³⁰ My skin is burned and peeling away.
    My body is hot with fever.
³¹ My harp is tuned to play songs of sorrow.
    My flute makes sad sounds like someone crying.