Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New International Version NIV
1 But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:
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“But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
2 The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
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Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
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Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
4 And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
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In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush.
5 Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
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They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
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They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
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They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
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A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
9 Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
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“And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
10 They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
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They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
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Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.
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On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.
13 They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
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They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
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They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
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Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.
16 And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
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“And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.
17 In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
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Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
18 With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with 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 I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
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He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20 I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
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“I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
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You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
22 Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
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You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.
23 I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
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I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
24 But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
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“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.
25 I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
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Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
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Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
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The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.
28 I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
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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 was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
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I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
30 My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
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My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
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My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
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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.