New Living Translation

English Standard Version

1“But now I am mocked by people younger than I, by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs.

1“But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2A lot of good they are to me— those worn-out wretches!

2What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

3They are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.

3Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

4They pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees.

4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

5They are driven from human society, and people shout at them as if they were thieves.

5They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

6So now they live in frightening ravines, in caves and among the rocks.

6In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7They sound like animals howling among the bushes, huddled together beneath the nettles.

7Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

8They are nameless fools, outcasts from society.

8A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

9“And now they mock me with vulgar songs! They taunt me!

9“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

10They despise me and won’t come near me, except to spit in my face.

10They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

11For God has cut my bowstring. He has humbled me, so they have thrown off all restraint.

11Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12These outcasts oppose me to my face. They send me sprawling and lay traps in my path.

12On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13They block my road and do everything they can to destroy me. They know I have no one to help me.

13They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

14They come at me from all directions. They jump on me when I am down.

14As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

15I live in terror now. My honor has blown away in the wind, and my prosperity has vanished like a cloud.

15Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

16“And now my life seeps away. Depression haunts my days.

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

17At night my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly.

17The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

18With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt. He grips me by the collar of my coat.

18With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19He has thrown me into the mud. I’m nothing more than dust and ashes.

19God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20“I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer. I stand before you, but you don’t even look.

20I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

21You have become cruel toward me. You use your power to persecute me.

21You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

22You throw me into the whirlwind and destroy me in the storm.

22You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

23And I know you are sending me to my death— the destination of all who live.

23For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

24“Surely no one would turn against the needy when they cry for help in their trouble.

24“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

25Did I not weep for those in trouble? Was I not deeply grieved for the needy?

25Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell.

26But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

27My heart is troubled and restless. Days of suffering torment me.

27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

28I walk in gloom, without sunlight. I stand in the public square and cry for help.

28I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals and a companion to owls.

29I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

30My skin has turned dark, and my bones burn with fever.

30My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

31My harp plays sad music, and my flute accompanies those who weep.

31My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

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.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.