LITV(i)
2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me;
3 when His lamp shone on my head, when I walked through darkness by His light;
4 as I was in the days of my harvest, when the intimacy with God was on my tent;
5 when the Almighty was yet with me and my children were around me;
6 when I washed my steps with curds, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me;
7 when I went out to the gate by the city; when I prepared my seat in the street.
8 The young men saw me and hid themselves; the aged rose up, stood up;
9 the rulers held back with words, and they laid a hand on their mouth;
10 the leaders' voice was hidden; yea, their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth.
11 For the ear heard, and blessed me; and the eye saw, and witnessed for me.
12 For I delivered the poor who cried for help and the orphan who had no helper to him.
13 The blessing of the perishing came on me; and I made the widow's heart to sing.
14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me; my judgment was like a robe and a diadem.
15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet for the lame.
16 I was father to the poor, and the cause which I did not know, I searched out.
17 I broke the fangs of the perverse, and cast the prey out of his teeth.
18 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply days like the sand.
19 My root was open to the waters, and the dew lay all night on my branch.
20 My glory was fresh with me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
21 They listened to me and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After my words, they did not go on, and my speech dropped on them.
23 And they waited for me like the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
24 I laughed on those when they did not believe, and they did not make the light of my face to fall.
25 I chose out their way, and sat as chief; and I lived like a king among the troops; as the mourners, and he who comforts.
30 1 But now the younger ones laugh at me; those whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Also, what profit for me was the strength of their hands; for full vigor had perished from them?
3 They are lifeless with want and hunger, those who gnaw the dry ground which was formerly waste and desolation;
4 those plucking mallow by the bushes, and broom roots for their food;
5 they are driven from the midst; they shouted against them as a thief;
6 they dwell in the chasms of the torrents, in the holes of the earth, and in rocks.
7 They bray among the bushes; they huddle together under the nettles;
8 sons of fools; yea, sons without a name; they have been whipped out of the land.
9 And now I am their song; yea, I am their byword.
10 They despise me, and they keep away from me; they do not spare spit from my face;
11 Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, they also have thrown off the bridle in my presence.
12 On my right hand a brood rises; they push away my feet and raise their destructive ways against me.
13 They have broken down my path; they profit by my ruin; they have no helper.
14 They come on, as through a break; they roll on under ruin.
15 Terrors are turned on me; they pursue my soul like the wind, and my goods pass away like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have seized me.
17 The night pierces my bones on me, and my gnawings never lie down.
18 By the great force of my disease my garment is disfigured; it chokes me like the mouth of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire; and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cried to You, but You did not answer me. I stood up, and You looked at me.
21 You changed to be cruel to me; You assault me with the might of Your hand;
22 You lift me up to the wind; You cause me to ride on it; and You melt me in a storm.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 Surely He will not stretch out His hand to the ruin heap; behold, they cry for help in their misfortune.
25 Did I not weep for him whose day is hard; and my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came; and when I waited for light, then darkness came.
27 My bowels have boiled, and not rested; the days of affliction confront me.
28 I go in mourning with no sun; I stood up in the assembly, and I cried out.
29 I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30 My skin is blackened on me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 And my lyre has turned to mourning, and My flute vibrates to the sound of weeping.