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.
13
They break up my path; they promote my 16calamity; they need no one to help them.
14
As through a wide 17breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.
15
18Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like 19a cloud.
16
"And now my soul is 20poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17
21The night 22racks my bones, and the pain that 23gnaws me takes no rest.
18
With great force my garment is 24disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19
God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like 25dust 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 26turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you 27persecute me.
22
28You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.