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¹ "And now, laughed at me, || Have the younger in days than I, || Whose fathers I have loathed to set || With the dogs of my flock.² Also—the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them old age has perished.³ With want and with harsh famine, || They are gnawing a dry place [in] the recent night, || [In] desolation and ruin,⁴ Those cropping mallows near a shrub, || And their food [is] root of broom trees.⁵ They are cast out from the midst || (They shout against them as a thief),⁶ To dwell in a frightful place of valleys, || Holes of earth and clefts.⁷ They groan among shrubs, || They are gathered together under nettles.⁸ Sons of folly—even sons without name, || They have been struck from the land.⁹ And now, I have been their song, || And I am to them for a byword.¹⁰ They have detested me, || They have kept far from me, || And from before me have not spared to spit.¹¹ Because He loosed His cord and afflicts me, || And the bridle from before me, || They have cast away.¹² A brood arises on the right hand, || They have cast away my feet, || And they raise up against me, || Their paths of calamity.¹³ They have broken down my path, || They profit by my calamity: He has no helper.¹⁴ They come as a wide breach, || Under the desolation have rolled themselves.

¹⁵ He has turned terrors against me, || It pursues my abundance as the wind, || And as a thick cloud, || My safety has passed away.¹⁶ And now, in me my soul pours itself out, || Days of affliction seize me.¹⁷ [At] night my bone has been pierced in me, || And my gnawing [pain] does not lie down.¹⁸ By the abundance of power, || Is my clothing changed, || As the mouth of my coat it girds me.¹⁹ Casting me into mire, || And I have become like dust and ashes.²⁰ I cry to You, || And You do not answer me, I have stood, and You consider me.²¹ You are turned to be fierce to me, || With the strength of Your hand, || You oppress me.²² You lift me up, || You cause me to ride on the wind, || And You melt—You level me.²³ For I have known You bring me back [to] death, || And [to] the house appointed for all living.²⁴ Surely not against the heap || Does He send forth the hand, || Though they have safety in its ruin.²⁵ Did I not weep for him whose day is hard? My soul has grieved for the needy.²⁶ When I expected good, then comes evil, || And I wait for light, and darkness comes.²⁷ My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, || Days of affliction have gone before me.²⁸ I have gone mourning without the sun, || I have risen, I cry in an assembly.²⁹ I have been a brother to dragons, || And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.³⁰ My skin has been black on me, || And my bone has burned from heat,³¹ And my harp becomes mourning, || And my pipe the sound of weeping."