English Standard Version

New Living Translation

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 I am mocked by people younger than I, by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs.

2What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

2A lot of good they are to me— those worn-out wretches!

3Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

3They are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.

4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

4They pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees.

5They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

5They are driven from human society, and people shout 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.

6So now they live in frightening ravines, in caves and among the rocks.

7Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

7They sound like animals howling among the bushes, huddled together beneath the nettles.

8A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

8They are nameless fools, outcasts from society.

9“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

9“And now they mock me with vulgar songs! They taunt me!

10They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

10They despise me and won’t come near me, except to spit in my face.

11Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

11For God has cut my bowstring. He has humbled me, so they have thrown off all restraint.

12On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

12These outcasts oppose me to my face. They send me sprawling and lay traps in my path.

13They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

13They block my road and do everything they can to destroy me. They know I have no one to help me.

14As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

14They come at me from all directions. They jump on me when I am down.

15Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

15I live in terror now. My honor has blown away in the wind, and my prosperity has vanished 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 seeps away. Depression haunts my days.

17The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

17At night my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly.

18With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

18With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt. He grips me by the collar of my coat.

19God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

19He has thrown me into the mud. I’m nothing more than 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 to you, O God, but you don’t answer. I stand before you, but you don’t even look.

21You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

21You have become cruel toward me. You use your power to persecute 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 throw me into the whirlwind and destroy me in the storm.

23For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

23And I know you are sending me to my death— the destination of all who live.

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 would turn against the needy when they cry for help in their trouble.

25Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

25Did I not weep for those in trouble? Was I not deeply grieved for the needy?

26But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

26So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell.

27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

27My heart is troubled and restless. Days of suffering torment me.

28I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

28I walk in gloom, without sunlight. I stand in the public square and cry for help.

29I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

29Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals and a companion to owls.

30My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

30My skin has turned dark, and my bones burn with fever.

31My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

31My harp plays sad music, and my flute accompanies those who weep.

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.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.