| Chapter 30 |
1 |
But now they that are younger than I, have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. |
2 |
Yes, to what might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age had perished? |
3 |
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. |
4 |
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their food. |
5 |
They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them, as after a thief;) |
6 |
To dwell in the clefts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. |
7 |
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were collected. |
8 |
They were children of fools, yes, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. |
9 |
And now I am their song, yes, I am their by-word. |
10 |
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. |
11 |
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. |
12 |
Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. |
13 |
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. |
14 |
They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. |
15 |
Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. |
16 |
And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. |
17 |
My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. |
18 |
By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. |
19 |
He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. |
20 |
I cry to thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. |
21 |
Thou hast become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. |
22 |
Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. |
23 |
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. |
24 |
Yet he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. |
25 |
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? |
26 |
When I looked for good, then evil came: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. |
27 |
My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction came upon me. |
28 |
I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. |
29 |
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. |
30 |
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. |
31 |
My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. |