| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. | 1“My spirit is crushed, and my life is nearly snuffed out. The grave is ready to receive me. |
| 2Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? | 2I am surrounded by mockers. I watch how bitterly they taunt me. |
| 3Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? | 3“You must defend my innocence, O God, since no one else will stand up for me. |
| 4For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them. | 4You have closed their minds to understanding, but do not let them triumph. |
| 5He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. | 5They betray their friends for their own advantage, so let their children faint with hunger. |
| 6He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. | 6“God has made a mockery of me among the people; they spit in my face. |
| 7Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. | 7My eyes are swollen with weeping, and I am but a shadow of my former self. |
| 8Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. | 8The virtuous are horrified when they see me. The innocent rise up against the ungodly. |
| 9The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. | 9The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger. |
| 10But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. | 10“As for all of you, come back with a better argument, though I still won’t find a wise man among you. |
| 11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. | 11My days are over. My hopes have disappeared. My heart’s desires are broken. |
| 12They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. | 12These men say that night is day; they claim that the darkness is light. |
| 13If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. | 13What if I go to the grave and make my bed in darkness? |
| 14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. | 14What if I call the grave my father, and the maggot my mother or my sister? |
| 15And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? | 15Where then is my hope? Can anyone find it? |
| 16They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. | 16No, my hope will go down with me to the grave. We will rest together in the dust!” |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | 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. |
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