American Standard Version ASV
New International Version NIV
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
1
“But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
2 Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished.
2
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
3 They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
3
Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
4 They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food.
4
In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush.
5 They are driven forth from the midst [of men]; They cry after them as after a thief;
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They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.
6
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together.
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They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 [They are] children of fools, yea, children of base men; They were scourged out of the land.
8
A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
9 And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them.
9
“And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face.
10
They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me.
11
Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
12
On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.
13 They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, [Even] men that have no helper.
13
They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].
14
They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
15
Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
16
“And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.
17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest.
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Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
18 By [God's] great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
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In his great power God becomes like clothing to me ; he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.
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He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me.
20
“I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me; With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.
21
You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride [upon it]; And thou dissolvest me in the storm.
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You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
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I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
24 Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
24
“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
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Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
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Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me.
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The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.
28 I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
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I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.
29
I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
30 My skin is black, [and falleth] from me, And my bones are burned with heat.
30
My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.
31 Therefore is my harp [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
31
My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.