Common English Bible CEB
New King James Version NKJV
1 My spirit is broken, my days extinguished, the grave, mine.
1
"My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me.
2 Surely mockers are with me, and my eye looks on their rebellion.
2
Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?
3 Take my guarantee. Who else is willing to make an agreement?
3
"Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me?
4 You've closed their mind to insight; therefore, you won't be exalted.
4
For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He denounces his friends for gain, and his children's eyes fail.
5
He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He makes me a popular proverb; I'm like spit in people's faces.
6
"But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.
7 My eye is weak from grief; my limbs like a shadow—all of them.
7
My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows.
8 Those who do the right thing are amazed at this; the guiltless become troubled about the godless.
8
Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
9 The innocent clings to his way; the one whose hands are clean grows stronger.
9
Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.
10 But you can bring all of them again, and I won't find a wise one among you.
10
"But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you.
11 My days have passed; my goals are destroyed, my heart's desires.
11
My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They turn night into day; light is near because of the darkness.
12
They change the night into day; 'The light is near,' they say, in the face of darkness.
13 If I hope for the underworld as my dwelling, lay out my bed in darkness,
13
If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness,
14 I've called corruption "my father," the worm, "my mother and sister."
14
If I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' And to the worm, 'You are my mother and my sister,'
15 Where then is my hope? My hope—who can see it?
15
Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?
16 Will they go down with me to the underworld; will we descend together to the dust?
16
Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?"
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.