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 those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.
2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.
3 They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.
4 They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.
5 They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves
6 They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.
7 They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.
8 They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.
9 And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.
10 I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.
11 For he has made loose the cord of my bow, and put me to shame; he has sent down my flag to the earth before me.
12 The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:
13 They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;
14 As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.
15 Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.
16 But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:
17 The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.
18 With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.
19 Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.
20 You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.
21 You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.
22 Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.
23 For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.
24 Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?
25 Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?
26 For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
27 My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.
28 I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.
29 I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
30 My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.
31 And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.