| NET Bible | King James Bible |
| 1"But now they mock me, those who are younger than I, whose fathers I disdained too much to put with my sheep dogs. | 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. |
| 2Moreover, the strength of their hands--what use was it to me? Men whose strength had perished; | 2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? |
| 3gaunt with want and hunger, they would gnaw the parched land, in former time desolate and waste. | 3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. |
| 4By the brush they would gather herbs from the salt marshes, and the root of the broom tree was their food. | 4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. |
| 5They were banished from the community--people shouted at them like they would shout at thieves-- | 5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) |
| 6so that they had to live in the dry stream beds, in the holes of the ground, and among the rocks. | 6To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. |
| 7They brayed like animals among the bushes and were huddled together under the nettles. | 7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. |
| 8Sons of senseless and nameless people, they were driven out of the land with whips. | 8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. |
| 9"And now I have become their taunt song; I have become a byword among them. | 9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. |
| 10They detest me and maintain their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. | 10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. |
| 11Because God has untied my tent cord and afflicted me, people throw off all restraint in my presence. | 11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. |
| 12On my right the young rabble rise up; they drive me from place to place, and build up siege ramps against me. | 12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. |
| 13They destroy my path; they succeed in destroying me without anyone assisting them. | 13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. |
| 14They come in as through a wide breach; amid the crash they come rolling in. | 14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. |
| 15Terrors are turned loose on me; they drive away my honor like the wind, and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away. | 15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. |
| 16"And now my soul pours itself out within me; days of suffering take hold of me. | 16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. |
| 17Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never cease. | 17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. |
| 18With great power God grasps my clothing; he binds me like the collar of my tunic. | 18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. |
| 19He has flung me into the mud, and I have come to resemble dust and ashes. | 19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. |
| 20I cry out to you, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you only look at me. | 20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. |
| 21You have become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you attack me. | 21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. |
| 22You pick me up on the wind and make me ride on it; you toss me about in the storm. | 22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. |
| 23I know that you are bringing me to death, to the meeting place for all the living. | 23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. |
| 24"Surely one does not stretch out his hand against a broken man when he cries for help in his distress. | 24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. |
| 25Have I not wept for the unfortunate? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? | 25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? |
| 26But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came. | 26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. |
| 27My heart is in turmoil unceasingly; the days of my affliction confront me. | 27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. |
| 28I go about blackened, but not by the sun; in the assembly I stand up and cry for help. | 28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. |
| 29I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches. | 29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. |
| 30My skin has turned dark on me; my body is hot with fever. | 30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. |
| 31My harp is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping. | 31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. |
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