| English Standard Version | New International Version |
| 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. | 1"But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. |
| 2What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone? | 2Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them? |
| 3Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; | 3Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. |
| 4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food. | 4In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. |
| 5They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief. | 5They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. |
| 6In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks. | 6They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. |
| 7Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together. | 7They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. |
| 8A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land. | 8A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land. |
| 9“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them. | 9"And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. |
| 10They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. | 10They detest me and keep their distance; 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. | 11Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw 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. | 12On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me. |
| 13They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them. | 13They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. 'No one can help him,' they say. |
| 14As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on. | 14They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in. |
| 15Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. | 15Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud. |
| 16“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. | 16"And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me. |
| 17The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. | 17Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest. |
| 18With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic. | 18In his great power God becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like 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 am reduced to dust and ashes. |
| 20I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. | 20"I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. |
| 21You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. | 21You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me. |
| 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 snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm. |
| 23For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living. | 23I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living. |
| 24“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help? | 24"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in 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 in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? |
| 26But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came. | 26Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness. |
| 27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me. | 27The churning inside me never stops; 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 go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. |
| 29I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. | 29I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls. |
| 30My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat. | 30My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever. |
| 31My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep. | 31My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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