But now they mockj me,

men younger than I am,

whose fathers I would have refused to put

with my sheep dogs.

2 What use to me was the strength of their hands?

Their vigor had left them.

3 Emaciated from poverty and hunger,

they gnawed the dry land,

the desolate wasteland by night.

4 They plucked mallowD,k among the shrubs,

and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5 They were banished from human society;

people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

6 They are living on the slopes of the wadis,

among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

7 They bray among the shrubs;

they huddle beneath the thistles.

8 Foolishl men, without even a name.

They were forced to leave the land.

9 Now I am mocked by their songs;m

I have become an object of scorn to them.