The Bible in Basic English BBE
New International Version NIV
4 It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you:
4
I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.
5 I might give you strength with my mouth, and not keep back the comfort of my lips.
5
But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
6 If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?
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“Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.
7 But now he has overcome me with weariness and fear, and I am in the grip of all my trouble.
7
Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.
8 It has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face.
8
You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
9 I am broken by his wrath, and his hate has gone after me; he has made his teeth sharp against me: my haters are looking on me with cruel eyes;
9
God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
10 Their mouths are open wide against me; the blows of his bitter words are falling on my face; all of them come together in a mass against me.
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People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.
11 God gives me over to the power of sinners, sending me violently into the hands of evil-doers.
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God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
12 I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.
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All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;
13 His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.
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his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.
14 I am broken with wound after wound; he comes rushing on me like a man of war.
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Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.
The Bible in Basic English 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.