[1] “But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. [2] Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them? [3] Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. [4] In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. [5] They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. [6] They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. [7] They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. [8] A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land. [9] “And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. [10] They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. [11] Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence. [12] On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me. [13] They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
