King James Bible

Christian Standard Bible

1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have 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.

2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

2What use to me was the strength of their hands? Their vigor had left them.

3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

3Emaciated from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, the desolate wasteland by night.

4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

4They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

5They were banished from human society; people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

6To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

6They are living on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

7They bray among the shrubs; they huddle beneath the thistles.

8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

8Foolish men, without even a name. They were forced to leave the land.

9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

9Now I am mocked by their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them.

10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

10They despise me and keep their distance from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

11Because God has loosened my bowstring and oppressed me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

12The rabble rise up at my right; they trap my feet and construct their siege ramp against me.

13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

13They tear up my path; they contribute to my destruction, without anyone to help them.

14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

14They advance as through a gaping breach; they keep rolling in through the ruins.

15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as 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.

16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

16Now my life is poured out before me, and days of suffering have seized me.

17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

17Night pierces my bones, but my gnawing pains never rest.

18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

18My clothing is distorted with great force; he chokes me by the neck of my garment.

19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

19He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

20I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me; when I stand up, you merely look at me.

21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

21You have turned against me with cruelty; you harass me with your strong hand.

22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

22You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it; you scatter me in the storm.

23For I know that thou wilt 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.

24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

24Yet no one would stretch out his hand against a ruined person when he cries out to him for help because of his distress.

25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

25Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

26But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness came.

27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

27I am churning within and cannot rest; days of suffering confront me.

28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

28I walk about blackened, but not by the sun. I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.

29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

29I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.

30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

30My skin blackens and flakes off, and my bones burn with fever.

31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

31My lyre is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.