So my lyre came to be [used] for mourning, and my flute [for the] voice of [those who] weep.

"But now [those] younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.

I am a companion for [the] jackals and a companion for {ostriches}.

My skin turns black on me, and my bones burn with heat.

They are picking salt herbs, the leaves of bushes, and [the] roots of broom trees to warm themselves.

Indeed, I know [that] you will bring me to death and [to the] house of assembly for all [the] living.

"But now I am their mocking song, and I have become a byword for them.

I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me; I stand, and you [merely] look at me.

Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as [by] the wind, and my hope of deliverance passed by like a cloud.

Have I not wept for {the unfortunate}, [and] grieved myself over the poor?

Through want and through barren hunger they are gnawing [in the] dry region [in the] darkness of desolation and waste.

They abhor me; they keep aloof from me, and they do not withhold spit from my face

Moreover, {what use to me is the strength of their hands}? With them, vigor is destroyed.

{A senseless crowd}, yes, {a disreputable brood}, they were cast out from the land.

"And now my life is poured out onto me; days of misery have taken hold of me.

You have turned cruel to me; you persecute me with your hand's might.

Indeed, I hoped for good, but evil came, and I waited for light, but darkness came.

because he has loosened his bowstring and humbled me, and they have thrown off restraint {in my presence}.

I go [about] in mourning garb, [but] not in sunlight; I stand up in the assembly, [and] I cry for help.

On [the] right hand the brood rises up; {they put me to flight}, and they build up their {siege ramps} against me.

{At night I am in great pain}; my pains do not take a rest.

They bray among [the] bushes; they are gathered under [the] nettles.

{so that they dwell} [in] holes of [the] ground and [in the] rocks.

You lift me up to [the] wind--you make me ride [it], and you toss me about [in] the storm.

He has cast me into the dirt, and I have become like dust and ashes.

My bowels are in turmoil, and they are not still; days of misery come to confront me.

They destroy my path; they promote my destruction; they have no helper.

They were driven out from fellow people; they shout at them as [at] a thief,

He seizes my clothing with {great power}; he grasps me by my tunic's collar.

"Surely someone must not send a hand against [the] needy when, in his misfortune, [there is] a cry of help for them.

As [through] a wide breach they come; amid a crash they rush on.