1 En nou lag hulle wat jonger is as ek, my uit -- mense wie se vaders ek te min geag het om by my herdershonde te sit.
2 Wat sou die krag van hulle hande my ook baat? Die frisse lewenskrag het by hulle verlore gegaan.
3 Hulle is uitgeput deur gebrek en honger, hulle wat die dor land afknaag in die donkerheid van woestheid en verwoesting;
4 hulle wat die soutkruid afpluk by die bossies, en die besemboswortel is hulle brood.
5 Uit die samelewing word hulle weggejaag; die mense skreeu oor hulle soos oor 'n dief.
6 In die afgryslike klowe moet hulle woon, in gate in die grond en in rotse.
7 Tussen die bossies skreeu hulle, onder brandnekels kruip hulle bymekaar --
8 dwase, ja, eerlose mense wat met 'n sweep uit die land geslaan word.
9 En nou het ek hulle spotlied geword en die onderwerp van hulle gepraat.
10 Hulle het 'n afsku van my, staan op 'n afstand van my af en ontsien nie om my in die gesig te spuug nie.
11 Want Hy het my boogsnaar losgemaak en my verneder; so het hulle dan teenoor my die teuel laat skiet.
12 Aan die regterhand staan die gespuis op; hulle stoot my voete weg en gooi hul onheilspaaie teen my op.
13 My pad verniel hulle, hulle help om my te laat val sonder dat hulle self 'n helper het.
14 Soos deur 'n wye bres kom hulle; te midde van die puinhope kom hulle aanrol.
15 Verskrikkinge is teen my gerig; hulle vervolg my hoogheid soos die wind, en soos 'n wolk het my geluk verbygegaan.
16 Daarom stort my siel hom nou uit in my; dae van ellende hou my vas.
17 Die nag deurboor my gebeente, en dit val van my af; en my knaende pyne rus nooit nie.
18 Deur goddelike oormag is my kleed ontredder; soos die kraag van my lyfrok omspan dit my.
19 Hy het my in die modder gewerp, en ek het soos stof en as geword.
20 Ek roep U aan om hulp, maar U antwoord my nie; ek staan daar, en U staar my aan.
21 U is jeens my verander in 'n onbarmhartige; deur die sterkte van u hand behandel U my as vyand.
22 U hef my op die wind, laat my daarop ry; en U laat my vergaan in stormgedruis.
23 Want ek weet: U wil my na die dood toe bring en na die huis waar al wat lewe, saamkom.
24 Maar sal iemand by die ineenstorting nie nog die hand uitsteek of by sy ondergang om die rede om hulp roep nie?
25 Of het ek nie geween oor hom wat harde dae het nie? Was my siel nie bekommerd oor die behoeftige nie?
26 Want ek het op die goeie gehoop, en onheil het gekom; en ek het gewag op lig, en donkerheid het gekom.
27 My ingewande kook sonder ophou; dae van ellende het my teëgekom.
28 Ek gaan daarheen in die rou, sonder son; ek staan op in die vergadering, ek roep om hulp.
29 Ek het 'n broer geword vir die jakkalse en 'n vriend vir die volstruise.
30 My vel het swart geword en val van my af, en my gebeente gloei van hitte.
31 So het dan my siter 'n rouklag geword en my fluit 'n stem van die wat ween.
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision,
Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me?
Men in whom ripe age is perished.
3 They are gaunt with want and famine;
They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 They pluck salt-wort by the bushes;
And the roots of the broom are their food.
5 They are driven forth from the midst of men;
They cry after them as after a thief;
6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys,
In holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray;
Under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 They are children of fools, yea, children of base men;
They were scourged out of the land.
9 And now I am become their song,
Yea, I am a byword unto them.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me,
And spare not to spit in my face.
11 For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me;
And they have cast off the bridle before me.
12 Upon my right hand rise the rabble;
They thrust aside my feet,
And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They mar my path,
They set forward my calamity,
Even men that have no helper.
14 As through a wide breach they come:
In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
They chase mine honor as the wind;
And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me;
Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me,
And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18 By God’s great force is my garment disfigured;
It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire,
And I am become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me:
I stand up, and thou gazest at me.
21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me;
With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride upon it;
And thou dissolvest me in the storm.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,
And to the house appointed for all living.
24 Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall?
Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came;
And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My heart is troubled, and resteth not;
Days of affliction are come upon me.
28 I go mourning without the sun:
I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals,
And a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin is black, and falleth from me,
And my bones are burned with heat.
31 Therefore is my harp turned to mourning,
And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.