Daily Bread

² “How I long for the months gone by,^(B)
    for the days when God watched over me,^(C)
3 when his lamp shone on my head
    and by his light I walked through darkness!^(D)
4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
    when God’s intimate friendship^(E) blessed my house,^(F)
5 when the Almighty was still with me
    and my children^(G) were around me,^(H)
6 when my path was drenched with cream^(I)
    and the rock^(J) poured out for me streams of olive oil.^(K)

⁷ “When I went to the gate^(L) of the city
    and took my seat in the public square,
⁸ the young men saw me and stepped aside^(M)
    and the old men rose to their feet;^(N)
9 the chief men refrained from speaking^(O)
    and covered their mouths with their hands;^(P)
10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,^(Q)
    and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.^(R)
11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
    and those who saw me commended me,^(S)
12 because I rescued the poor^(T) who cried for help,
    and the fatherless^(U) who had none to assist them.^(V)
13 The one who was dying blessed me;^(W)
    I made the widow’s^(X) heart sing.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness^(Y) as my clothing;
    justice was my robe and my turban.^(Z)
15 I was eyes^(AA) to the blind
    and feet to the lame.^(AB)
16 I was a father to the needy;^(AC)
    I took up the case^(AD) of the stranger.^(AE)
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked
    and snatched the victims^(AF) from their teeth.^(AG)

¹⁸ “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,
    my days as numerous as the grains of sand.^(AH)
19 My roots will reach to the water,^(AI)
    and the dew will lie all night on my branches.^(AJ)
20 My glory will not fade;^(AK)
    the bow^(AL) will be ever new in my hand.’^(AM)

²¹ “People listened to me expectantly,
    waiting in silence for my counsel.^(AN)
22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more;^(AO)
    my words fell gently on their ears.^(AP)
23 They waited for me as for showers
    and drank in my words as the spring rain.^(AQ)
24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
    the light of my face^(AR) was precious to them.^[a](AS)
25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;^(AT)
    I dwelt as a king^(AU) among his troops;
    I was like one who comforts mourners.^(AV)

30 “But now they mock me,^(AW)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.^(AX)
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^[b] the parched land^(AY)
    in desolate wastelands^(AZ) at night.^(BA)
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,^(BB)
    and their food^[c] was the root of the broom bush.^(BC)
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.^(BD)
7 They brayed^(BE) among the bushes^(BF)
    and huddled in the undergrowth.
⁸ A base and nameless brood,^(BG)
    they were driven out of the land.^(BH)

⁹ “And now those young men mock me^(BI) in song;^(BJ)
    I have become a byword^(BK) among them.
¹⁰ They detest me^(BL) and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.^(BM)
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow^(BN) and afflicted me,^(BO)
    they throw off restraint^(BP) in my presence.
¹² On my right^(BQ) the tribe^[d] attacks;
    they lay snares^(BR) for my feet,^(BS)
    they build their siege ramps against me.^(BT)
13 They break up my road;^(BU)
    they succeed in destroying me.^(BV)
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
¹⁴ They advance as through a gaping breach;^(BW)
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
¹⁵ Terrors^(BX) overwhelm me;^(BY)
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.^(BZ)

¹⁶ “And now my life ebbs away;^(CA)
    days of suffering grip me.^(CB)
17 Night pierces my bones;
    my gnawing pains never rest.^(CC)
18 In his great power^(CD) God becomes like clothing to me^[e];
    he binds me like the neck of my garment.
¹⁹ He throws me into the mud,^(CE)
    and I am reduced to dust and ashes.^(CF)

²⁰ “I cry out to you,^(CG) God, but you do not answer;^(CH)
    I stand up, but you merely look at me.
²¹ You turn on me ruthlessly;^(CI)
    with the might of your hand^(CJ) you attack me.^(CK)
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;^(CL)
    you toss me about in the storm.^(CM)
23 I know you will bring me down to death,^(CN)
    to the place appointed for all the living.^(CO)

²⁴ “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man^(CP)
    when he cries for help in his distress.^(CQ)
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?^(CR)
    Has not my soul grieved for the poor?^(CS)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
    when I looked for light, then came darkness.^(CT)
27 The churning inside me never stops;^(CU)
    days of suffering confront me.^(CV)
28 I go about blackened,^(CW) but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.^(CX)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,^(CY)
    a companion of owls.^(CZ)
30 My skin grows black^(DA) and peels;^(DB)
    my body burns with fever.^(DC)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,^(DD)
    and my pipe^(DE) to the sound of wailing.