2
What could I gain from the strength of their hands, 1men whose 2vigor is gone?
3
Through want and hard hunger they 3gnaw 4the dry ground by night in 5waste and desolation;
4
they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
5
6They 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 7the rocks.
7
Among the bushes they 8bray; under 9the 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 10song; I am 11a byword to them.
10
They 12abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to 13spit 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 14right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they 15cast up against me their ways of destruction.