1 "But now they mock me,
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs. |
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them? |
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed1 30:3 Or gnawed the parched land
in desolate wastelands at night. |
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,
and their food2 30:4 Or fuel was the root of the broom tree. |
5 They were banished from their fellow men,
shouted at as if they were thieves. |
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground. |
7 They brayed among the bushes
and huddled in the undergrowth. |
8 A base and nameless brood,
they were driven out of the land. |
9 "And now their sons mock me in song;
I have become a byword among them. |
10 They detest me and keep their distance;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face. |
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,
they throw off restraint in my presence. |
12 On my right the tribe3 30:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. attacks;
they lay snares for my feet,
they build their siege ramps against me. |
13 They break up my road;
they succeed in destroying me-
without anyone's helping them.4 30:13 Or me. / 'No one can help him,' they say . |
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;
amid the ruins they come rolling in. |
15 Terrors overwhelm me;
my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
my safety vanishes like a cloud. |
16 "And now my life ebbs away;
days of suffering grip me. |
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest. |
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me5 30:18 Hebrew; Septuagint God grasps my clothing ;
he binds me like the neck of my garment. |
19 He throws me into the mud,
and I am reduced to dust and ashes. |
20 "I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me. |
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of your hand you attack me. |
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
you toss me about in the storm. |
23 I know you will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living. |
24 "Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man
when he cries for help in his distress. |
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor? |
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness. |
27 The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me. |
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. |
29 I have become a brother of jackals,
a companion of owls. |
30 My skin grows black and peels;
my body burns with fever. |
31 My harp is tuned to mourning,
and my flute to the sound of wailing. |
