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¹ "But now they ^(a)laugh at me,
    men who are ^(b)younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.
² What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
    ^(c)men whose ^(d)vigor is gone?
³ Through want and hard hunger
    they ^(e)gnaw ^(f)the dry ground by night in ^(g)waste and desolation;
⁴ they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
    and the roots of the broom tree for their food.^[a]
5 (h)They are driven out from human company;
    they shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
    in holes of the earth and of ⁽ⁱ⁾the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they ^(j)bray;
    under ^(k)the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, a nameless brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ "And now I have become their ^(l)song;
    I am ^(m)a byword to them.
¹⁰ They ⁽ⁿ⁾abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to ^(o)spit at the sight of me.
¹¹ Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
    they have cast off restraint^[b] in my presence.
¹² On my ^(p)right hand the rabble rise;
    they push away my feet;
    they ^(q)cast up against me their ways of destruction.
¹³ They break up my path;
    they promote my ^(r)calamity;
    they need no one to help them.
¹⁴ As through a wide ^(s)breach they come;
    amid the crash they roll on.
^15 (t)Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like ^(u)a cloud.

¹⁶ "And now my soul is ^(v)poured out within me;
    days of affliction have taken hold of me.
^17 (w)The night ^(x)racks my bones,
    and the pain that ^(y)gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With great force my garment is ^(z)disfigured;
    it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ God^[c] has cast me into the mire,
    and I have become like ^(aa)dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
    I stand, and you only look at me.
²¹ You have ^(ab)turned cruel to me;
    with the might of your hand you ^(ac)persecute me.
^22 (ad)You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
    and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
^23 (ae)For I know that you will bring me to death
    and to the house appointed for ^(af)all living.

²⁴ "Yet does not one in a ^(ag)heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
    and in his disaster cry for help?^[d]
25 Did not I ^(ah)weep for him whose day was hard?
    Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
²⁶ But ^(ai)when I hoped for good, evil came,
    and when I waited for light, ^(aj)darkness came.
²⁷ My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
    days of affliction ^(ak)come to meet me.
²⁸ I ^(al)go about darkened, but not by the sun;
    I stand up in ^(am)the assembly and cry for help.
²⁹ I am a brother of ^(an)jackals
    and a companion of ^(ao)ostriches.
³⁰ My ^(ap)skin turns black and falls from me,
    and my ^(aq)bones burn with heat.
³¹ My ^(ar)lyre is ^(as)turned to mourning,
    and my ^(at)pipe to the voice of those who weep.