² “Oh, that I were as in months past,
As in the days when God watched over me;
³ When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴ Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
⁶ When my steps were bathed with ^[a]cream,
And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷ “When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
⁸ The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
⁹ The princes refrained from talking,
And put their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
¹³ The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the poor,
And I searched out the case that I did not know.
¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.

¹⁸ “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
¹⁹ My root is spread out to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
²⁰ My glory is fresh within me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹ “Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
²² After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
²⁴ If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
²⁵ I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.

⁹ “And now I am their taunting song;
Yes, I am their byword.
¹⁰ They abhor me, they keep far from me;
They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
¹¹ Because He has loosed ^[f]my bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off restraint before me.
¹² At my right hand the rabble arises;
They push away my feet,
And they raise against me their ways of destruction.
¹³ They break up my path,
They promote my calamity;
They have no helper.
¹⁴ They come as broad breakers;
Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

¹⁶ “And now my soul is poured out because of my plight;
The days of affliction take hold of me.
¹⁷ My bones are pierced in me at night,
And my gnawing pains take no rest.
¹⁸ By great force my garment is disfigured;
It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
¹⁹ He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰ “I cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You regard me.
²¹ But You have become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You oppose me.
²² You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;
You spoil my success.
²³ For I know that You will bring me to death,
And to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴ “Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins,
If they cry out when He destroys it.
²⁵ Have I not wept for him who was in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
²⁶ But when I looked for good, evil came to me;
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
^27 [g]My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest;
Days of affliction confront me.
²⁸ I go about mourning, but not in the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
²⁹ I am a brother of jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
³⁰ My skin grows black and falls from me;
My bones burn with fever.
³¹ My harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the voice of those who weep.