New Living Translation | King James Bible |
1“But now I am mocked by people younger than I, by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs. | 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. |
2A lot of good they are to me— those worn-out wretches! | 2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? |
3They are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands. | 3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. |
4They pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees. | 4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. |
5They are driven from human society, and people shout at them as if they were thieves. | 5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) |
6So now they live in frightening ravines, in caves and among the rocks. | 6To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. |
7They sound like animals howling among the bushes, huddled together beneath the nettles. | 7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. |
8They are nameless fools, outcasts from society. | 8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. |
9“And now they mock me with vulgar songs! They taunt me! | 9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. |
10They despise me and won’t come near me, except to spit in my face. | 10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. |
11For God has cut my bowstring. He has humbled me, so they have thrown off all restraint. | 11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. |
12These outcasts oppose me to my face. They send me sprawling and lay traps in my path. | 12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. |
13They block my road and do everything they can to destroy me. They know I have no one to help me. | 13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. |
14They come at me from all directions. They jump on me when I am down. | 14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. |
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: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. |
16“And now my life seeps away. Depression haunts my days. | 16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. |
17At night my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly. | 17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. |
18With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt. He grips me by the collar of my coat. | 18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. |
19He has thrown me into the mud. I’m nothing more than dust and ashes. | 19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am 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 unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. |
21You have become cruel toward me. You use your power to persecute me. | 21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. |
22You throw me into the whirlwind and destroy me in the storm. | 22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. |
23And I know you are sending me to my death— the destination of all who live. | 23For I know that thou wilt 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. | 24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. |
25Did I not weep for those in trouble? Was I not deeply grieved for the needy? | 25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? |
26So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell. | 26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. |
27My heart is troubled and restless. Days of suffering torment me. | 27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. |
28I walk in gloom, without sunlight. I stand in the public square and cry for help. | 28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. |
29Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals and a companion to owls. | 29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. |
30My skin has turned dark, and my bones burn with fever. | 30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. |
31My harp plays sad music, and my flute accompanies those who weep. | 31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that 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. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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