| King James Bible | Holman 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 expelled 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 my eyes, 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 man 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. |
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