| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. | 1But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs. |
| 2What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone? | 2What use to me was the strength of their hands? Their vigor had left them. |
| 3Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; | 3Emaciated from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, the desolate wasteland by night. |
| 4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food. | 4They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food. |
| 5They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief. | 5They were expelled from human society; people shouted at them as if they were thieves. |
| 6In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks. | 6They are living on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. |
| 7Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together. | 7They bray among the shrubs; they huddle beneath the thistles. |
| 8A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land. | 8Foolish men, without even a name. They were forced to leave the land. |
| 9“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them. | 9Now I am mocked by their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them. |
| 10They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. | 10They despise me and keep their distance from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. |
| 11Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence. | 11Because God has loosened my bowstring and oppressed me, they have cast off restraint in my presence. |
| 12On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction. | 12The rabble rise up at my right; they trap my feet and construct their siege ramp against me. |
| 13They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them. | 13They tear up my path; they contribute to my destruction, without anyone to help them. |
| 14As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on. | 14They advance as through a gaping breach; they keep rolling in through the ruins. |
| 15Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. | 15Terrors are turned loose against me; they chase my dignity away like the wind, and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud. |
| 16“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. | 16Now my life is poured out before my eyes, and days of suffering have seized me. |
| 17The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. | 17Night pierces my bones, but my gnawing pains never rest. |
| 18With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic. | 18My clothing is distorted with great force; He chokes me by the neck of my garment. |
| 19God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. | 19He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes. |
| 20I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. | 20I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; when I stand up, You merely look at me. |
| 21You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. | 21You have turned against me with cruelty; You harass me with Your strong hand. |
| 22You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. | 22You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it; You scatter me in the storm. |
| 23For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living. | 23Yes, I know that You will lead me to death-- the place appointed for all who live. |
| 24“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help? | 24Yet no one would stretch out his hand against a ruined man when he cries out to him for help because of his distress. |
| 25Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? | 25Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times? Has my soul not grieved for the needy? |
| 26But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came. | 26But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness came. |
| 27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me. | 27I am churning within and cannot rest; days of suffering confront me. |
| 28I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. | 28I walk about blackened, but not by the sun. I stood in the assembly and cried out for help. |
| 29I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. | 29I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches. |
| 30My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat. | 30My skin blackens and flakes off, and my bones burn with fever. |
| 31My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep. | 31My lyre is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping. |
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