The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 My spirit is broken, my days are ended, the last resting-place is ready for me.
1
The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe; there is nothing left for me but the grave.
2 Truly, those who make sport of me are round about me, and my eyes become dark because of their bitter laughing.
2
I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me.
3 Be pleased, now, to be responsible for me to yourself; for there is no other who will put his hand in mine.
3
I am being honest, God. Accept my word. There is no one else to support what I say.
4 You have kept their hearts from wisdom: for this cause you will not give them honour.
4
You have closed their minds to reason; don't let them triumph over me now.
5 As for him who is false to his friend for a reward, light will be cut off from the eyes of his children.
5
In the old proverb someone betrays his friends for money, and his children suffer for it.
6 He has made me a word of shame to the peoples; I have become a mark for their sport.
6
And now people use this proverb against me; they come and spit in my face.
7 My eyes have become dark because of my pain, and all my body is wasted to a shade.
7
My grief has almost made me blind; my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.
8 The upright are surprised at this, and he who has done no wrong is troubled because of the evil-doers.
8
Those who claim to be honest are shocked, and they all condemn me as godless.
9 Still the upright keeps on his way, and he who has clean hands gets new strength.
9
Those who claim to be respectable are more and more convinced they are right.
10 But come back, now, all of you, come; and I will not see a wise man among you.
10
But if all of them came and stood before me, I would not find even one of them wise.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the desires of my heart.
11
My days have passed; my plans have failed; my hope is gone.
12 They are changing night into day; they say, The light is near the dark.
12
But my friends say night is daylight; they say that light is near, but I know I remain in darkness.
13 If I am waiting for the underworld as my house, if I have made my bed in the dark;
13
My only hope is the world of the dead, where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.
14 If I say to the earth, You are my father; and to the worm, My mother and my sister;
14
I will call the grave my father, and the worms that eat me I will call my mother and my sisters.
15 Where then is my hope? and who will see my desire?
15
Where is there any hope for me? Who sees any?
16 Will they go down with me into the underworld? Will we go down together into the dust?
16
Hope will not go with me when I go down to the world of the dead.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.