1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

1 Nunc autem derident me juniores tempore,
quorum non dignabar patres ponere cum canibus gregis mei:

2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

2 quorum virtus manuum mihi erat pro nihilo,
et vita ipsa putabantur indigni:

3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

3 egestate et fame steriles, qui rodebant in solitudine,
squallentes calamitate et miseria.

4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

4 Et mandebant herbas, et arborum cortices,
et radix juniperorum erat cibus eorum:

5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

5 qui de convallibus ista rapientes,
cum singula reperissent, ad ea cum clamore currebant.

6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

6 In desertis habitabant torrentium,
et in cavernis terræ, vel super glaream:

7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

7 qui inter hujuscemodi lætabantur,
et esse sub sentibus delicias computabant:

8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

8 filii stultorum et ignobilium,
et in terra penitus non parentes.

9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

9 Nunc in eorum canticum versus sum,
et factus sum eis in proverbium.

10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

10 Abominantur me, et longe fugiunt a me,
et faciem meam conspuere non verentur.

11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

11 Pharetram enim suam aperuit, et afflixit me,
et frenum posuit in os meum.

12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

12 Ad dexteram orientis calamitates meæ illico surrexerunt:
pedes meos subverterunt,
et oppresserunt quasi fluctibus semitis suis.

13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

13 Dissipaverunt itinera mea;
insidiati sunt mihi, et prævaluerunt:
et non fuit qui ferret auxilium.

14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

14 Quasi rupto muro, et aperta janua, irruerunt super me,
et ad meas miserias devoluti sunt.

15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

15 Redactus sum in nihilum:
abstulisti quasi ventus desiderium meum,
et velut nubes pertransiit salus mea.

16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

16 Nunc autem in memetipso marcescit anima mea,
et possident me dies afflictionis.

17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

17 Nocte os meum perforatur doloribus,
et qui me comedunt, non dormiunt.

18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

18 In multitudine eorum consumitur vestimentum meum,
et quasi capitio tunicæ succinxerunt me.

19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

19 Comparatus sum luto,
et assimilatus sum favillæ et cineri.

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

20 Clamo ad te, et non exaudis me:
sto, et non respicis me.

21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

21 Mutatus es mihi in crudelem,
et in duritia manus tuæ adversaris mihi.

22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

22 Elevasti me, et quasi super ventum ponens;
elisisti me valide.

23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

23 Scio quia morti trades me,
ubi constituta est domus omni viventi.

24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

24 Verumtamen non ad consumptionem eorum emittis manum tuam:
et si corruerint, ipse salvabis.

25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

25 Flebam quondam super eo qui afflictus erat,
et compatiebatur anima mea pauperi.

26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

26 Expectabam bona, et venerunt mihi mala:
præstolabar lucem, et eruperunt tenebræ.

27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

27 Interiora mea efferbuerunt absque ulla requie:
prævenerunt me dies afflictionis.

28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

28 Mœrens incedebam sine furore;
consurgens, in turba clamabam.

29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

29 Frater fui draconum,
et socius struthionum.

30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

30 Cutis mea denigrata est super me,
et ossa mea aruerunt præ caumate.

31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

31 Versa est in luctum cithara mea,
et organum meum in vocem flentium.