1“But now, people younger than me make fun of me. I wouldn't have even let their fathers guard my sheep with their dogs.
2What good is the strength of their hands to me? They are men whose prime has passed.
3They are thin from hunger and starvation. They gnaw on dry dirt in desolate, empty places.
4They pick salty weeds by the bushes; broom roots are their food.
5They are driven away from people. Others shout at them as if they were thieves;
6So they live in terrifying valleys, and in caves made of earth and rocks.
7They howl among the bushes, and gather together under the nettle plants.
8They are children of fools, yes, children of worthless men. They were beaten out of the land.
9“Now I have become the subject of their songs. Yes, they use me as a proverb.
10They hate me, they keep their distance from me, and they don’t hesitate to spit in my face.
11Because he has loosened his family ties and afflicted me; and they have lost all self-control around me.
12On my right, a mob rises up. They trip my feet and try to destroy me.
13They ruin my path and encourage my disaster, with no one to help.
14They come in through a wide opening, tumbling in among the ruins.
15Terrors have turned against me. They chase away my honor like the wind, and my well-being has vanished like a cloud.
16“Now my spirit is drained from me. Days of suffering have taken hold of me.
17At night, my bones ache, and the pains that gnaw at me never stop.
18My clothing is disfigured by great force. It chokes me like the collar of my coat.
19He has thrown me into the mud. I have become like dust and ashes.
20I cry out to you, but you don't answer me. I stand up, and you just stare at me.
21You have become cruel to me. With the strength of your hand, you persecute me.
22You lift me up to the wind and drive me with it. You break me apart in the storm.
23For I know that you will bring me to death, to the place appointed for all living things.
24“But doesn't one reach out a hand when falling? Or cry for help when in trouble?
25Didn't I weep for those in trouble? Wasn't my spirit saddened for the needy?
26When I expected good, evil came; when I waited for light, darkness came.
27My heart is troubled and finds no rest. Days of suffering have come upon me.
28I walk around grieving, without seeing the sun. I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
29I am like a brother to jackals and a companion to ostriches.
30My skin turns black and peels from me. My bones burn with fever.
31Therefore, my harp has become an instrument of mourning, and my flute plays the sound of those who weep.”