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