4
they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
5
1They 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 2the rocks.
7
Among the bushes they 3bray; under 4the 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 5song; I am 6a byword to them.
10
They 7abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to 8spit at the sight of me.
11
Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12
On my 9right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they 10cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13
They break up my path; they promote my 11calamity; they need no one to help them.
14
As through a wide 12breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.
15
13Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like 14a cloud.
16
"And now my soul is 15poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17
16The night 17racks my bones, and the pain that 18gnaws me takes no rest.
18
With great force my garment is 19disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19
God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like 20dust 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 21turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you 22persecute me.
22
23You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23
24For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for 25all living.
24
"Yet does not one in a 26heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?
25
Did not I 27weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26
But 28when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, 29darkness came.
27
My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction 30come to meet me.
28
I 31go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in 32the assembly and cry for help.
29
I am a brother of 33jackals and a companion of 34ostriches.
30
My 35skin turns black and falls from me, and my 36bones burn with heat.
31
My 37lyre is 38turned to mourning, and my 39pipe to the voice of those who weep.