030:001

Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished

030:002

For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste

030:003

Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat

030:004

They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;

030:005

To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks

030:006

Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together

030:007

They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth

030:008

And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword

030:009

They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face

030:010

Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me

030:011

Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction

030:012

They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper

030:013

They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me

030:014

Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud

030:015

And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me

030:016

My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest

030:017

By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat

030:018

He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes

030:019

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not

030:020

Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me

030:021

Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance

030:022

For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living

030:023

Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction

030:024

Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor

030:025

When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness

030:026

My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me

030:027

I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation

030:028

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls

030:029

My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat

030:030

My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep