301“But now they ⁱlaugh at me,

men who are ^jyounger than I,

whose fathers I would have disdained

to set with the dogs of my flock.

2What could I gain from the strength of their hands,

^kmen whose ^lvigor is gone?

3Through want and hard hunger

they ^mgnaw ⁿthe dry ground by night in ^owaste and desolation;

4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,

and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

5^pThey are driven out from human company;

they shout after them as after a thief.

6In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,

in holes of the earth and of ^qthe rocks.

7Among the bushes they ^rbray;

under ^sthe nettles they huddle together.

8A senseless, a nameless brood,

they have been whipped out of the land.

9“And now I have become their ^tsong;

I am ^ua byword to them.

10They ^vabhor me; they keep aloof from me;

they do not hesitate to ^wspit at the sight of me.

11Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,

they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12On my ^xright hand the rabble rise;

they push away my feet;

they ^ycast up against me their ways of destruction.

13They break up my path;

they promote my ^zcalamity;

they need no one to help them.

14As through a wide ^abreach they come;

amid the crash they roll on.

15^bTerrors are turned upon me;

my honor is pursued as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed away like ^ca cloud.

16“And now my soul is ^dpoured out within me;

days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17^eThe night ^fracks my bones,

and the pain that ^ggnaws me takes no rest.

18With great force my garment is ^hdisfigured;

it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19God has cast me into the mire,

and I have become like ⁱdust and ashes.

20I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;

I stand, and you only look at me.

21You have ^jturned cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you ^kpersecute me.

22^lYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,

and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

23^mFor I know that you will bring me to death

and to the house appointed for ⁿall living.

24“Yet does not one in a ^oheap of ruins stretch out his hand,

and in his disaster cry for help?

25Did not I ^pweep for him whose day was hard?

Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26But ^qwhen I hoped for good, evil came,

and when I waited for light, ^rdarkness came.

27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;

days of affliction ^scome to meet me.

28I ^tgo about darkened, but not by the sun;

I stand up in ^uthe assembly and cry for help.

29I am a brother of ^vjackals

and a companion of ^wostriches.

30My ^xskin turns black and falls from me,

and my ^ybones burn with heat.

31My ^zlyre is ^aturned to mourning,

and my ^zpipe to the voice of those who weep.