1. But now they hold me in derisionwho are younger than I,Whose fathers I should have disdainedto rank with the dogs of my flock.
2. Such strength as they had meant nothing to me;their vigor had perished.
3. In want and emaciating hungerthey fled to the parched lands:to the desolate wasteland by night.
4. They plucked saltwort and shrubs;the roots of the broom plant were their food.
5. They were banished from the community,with an outcry like that against a thief—
6. To dwell on the slopes of the wadies,in caves of sand and stone;
7. Among the bushes they brayed;under the nettles they huddled together.
8. Irresponsible, of no account,they were driven out of the land.
9. Yet now they sing of me in mockery;I have become a byword among them.