| King James Bible | NET Bible |
| 1My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. | 1My spirit is broken, my days have faded out, the grave awaits me. |
| 2Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? | 2Surely mockery is with me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility. |
| 3Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? | 3Make then my pledge with you. Who else will put up security for me? |
| 4For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them. | 4Because you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not exalt them. |
| 5He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. | 5If a man denounces his friends for personal gain, the eyes of his children will fail. |
| 6He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. | 6He has made me a byword to people, I am the one in whose face they spit. |
| 7Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. | 7My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. |
| 8Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. | 8Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent man is troubled with the godless. |
| 9The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. | 9But the righteous man holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger. |
| 10But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. | 10"But turn, all of you, and come now! I will not find a wise man among you. |
| 11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. | 11My days have passed, my plans are shattered, even the desires of my heart. |
| 12They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. | 12These men change night into day; they say, 'The light is near in the face of darkness.' |
| 13If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. | 13If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, |
| 14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. | 14If I cry to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My Mother,' or 'My sister,' |
| 15And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? | 15where then is my hope? And my hope, who sees it? |
| 16They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. | 16Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?" |
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