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1.
"But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
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2.
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
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3.
Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
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4.
In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom tree.
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5.
They were banished from their fellow men, shouted at as if they were thieves.
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6.
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
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7.
They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.
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8.
A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
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9.
"And now their sons mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
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10.
They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
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11.
Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
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12.
On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.
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13.
They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me--without anyone's helping them.
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14.
They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.
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15.
Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.
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16.
"And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.
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17.
Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
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18.
In his great power God becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment.
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19.
He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
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20.
"I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.
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21.
You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
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22.
You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.
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23.
I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
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24.
"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.
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25.
Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
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26.
Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
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27.
The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.
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28.
I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
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29.
I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
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30.
My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.
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31.
My harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of wailing.
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