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.
2
Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
3
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
5
They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
6
To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
8
They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9
And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
10
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12
Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
