English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 "My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.
1
"My spirit is broken, my days used up, my grave dug and waiting.
2 Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
2
See how these mockers close in on me? How long do I have to put up with their insolence?
3 "Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there who will put up security for me?
3
"O God, pledge your support for me. Give it to me in writing, with your signature. You're the only one who can do it!
4 Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.
4
These people are so useless! You know firsthand how stupid they can be. You wouldn't let them have the last word, would you?
5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property-- the eyes of his children will fail.
5
Those who betray their own friends leave a legacy of abuse to their children.
6 "He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.
6
"God, you've made me the talk of the town - people spit in my face;
7 My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow.
7
I can hardly see from crying so much; I'm nothing but skin and bones.
8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
8
Decent people can't believe what they're seeing; the good-hearted wake up and insist I've given up on God.
9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
9
"But principled people hold tight, keep a firm grip on life, sure that their clean, pure hands will get stronger and stronger!
10 But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you.
10
"Maybe you'd all like to start over, to try it again, the bunch of you. So far I haven't come across one scrap of wisdom in anything you've said.
11 My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
11
My life's about over. All my plans are smashed, all my hopes are snuffed out -
12 They make night into day: 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.'
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My hope that night would turn into day, my hope that dawn was about to break.
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness,
13
If all I have to look forward to is a home in the graveyard, if my only hope for comfort is a well-built coffin,
14 if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,'
14
If a family reunion means going six feet under, and the only family that shows up is worms,
15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
15
Do you call that hope? Who on earth could find any hope in that?
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"
16
No. If hope and I are to be buried together, I suppose you'll all come to the double funeral!"
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.