[1] But now, even the men who are younger than I am are making fun of me. And their fathers were so worthless that I wouldn’t put them with the dogs guarding my sheep.
[2] The fathers of those young men are too weak to help me. They are old and tired—their muscles are not hard and strong any more.
[3] They are like dead men— They are starving with nothing to eat. So they eat the dry dust of the desert.
[4] They pull up salt plants in the desert. They eat the roots from the broom tree.
[5] They are forced away from other people. People shout at them like they are thieves.
[6] They must live in the dry river beds, hillside caves and holes in the ground.
[7] They howl in the bushes, and huddle together under thorn bushes.
[8] They are a group of worthless people with no names who were forced to leave their country!
[9] “Now those men’s sons sing songs about me to make fun of me. My name has become a bad word to them.
[10] Those young men hate me, they stand away from me, they think they are better than me. They even spit in my face!
[11] God has taken the string from my bow and made me weak. Those young men don’t stop themselves but turn against me with all their anger.
[12] They attack me at my right side. They knock my feet out from under me. ˻I feel like a city being attacked:˼ They build dirt ramps against my walls to attack and destroy me.
[13] They guard the road so I can’t escape. They succeed in destroying me. They don’t need anyone to help them.
[14] They break a hole in the wall. They come rushing through it, and the crashing rocks fall on me.
[15] I am shaking with fear. Those young men chase away my honor like the wind blows things away. My safety disappears like a cloud.
[16] “Now my life is almost gone, and I will soon die. Days of suffering have grabbed me.
[17] All my bones ache at night. Pain never stops chewing on me.
[18] God grabbed the collar of my coat and twisted my clothes out of shape.
[19] God threw me into the mud, and I become like dirt and ashes.
[20] “God, I cry out to you for help, but you don’t answer. I stand up and pray, but you don’t pay attention to me.
[21] God, you are mean to me. You use your power to hurt me.
[22] God, you let the strong wind blow me away. You throw me around in the storm.
[23] I know you will lead me to my death. Every living person must die.
[24] “But, surely no one will hurt a person that is already ruined and crying for help.
[25] God, you know that I have cried for people in trouble. You know that my heart was very sad for poor people.
[26] But when I looked for good things. bad things came instead. When I looked for light, darkness came.
[27] I am torn up inside. The suffering never stops. And the suffering has just started.
[28] I am always sad and depressed, without relief. I stand up in the assembly and yell for help.
[29] I am all alone like the wild dogs and ostriches ˻in the desert˼.
[30] My skin is burnt and peeling away. My body is hot with fever.
[31] My harp is tuned to play sad songs. My flute makes sounds like sad crying.