The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 "My spirit is broken, my days used up, my grave dug and waiting.
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“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.
2 See how these mockers close in on me? How long do I have to put up with their insolence?
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Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
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!
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“Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?
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?
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Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 Those who betray their own friends leave a legacy of abuse to their children.
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He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—the eyes of his children will fail.
6 "God, you've made me the talk of the town - people spit in my face;
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“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.
7 I can hardly see from crying so much; I'm nothing but skin and bones.
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My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow.
8 Decent people can't believe what they're seeing; the good-hearted wake up and insist I've given up on God.
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The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
9 "But principled people hold tight, keep a firm grip on life, sure that their clean, pure hands will get stronger and stronger!
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Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
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.
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But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My life's about over. All my plans are smashed, all my hopes are snuffed out -
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My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
12 My hope that night would turn into day, my hope that dawn was about to break.
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They make night into day: ‘The light, ’ they say, ‘is near to the 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,
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If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness,
14 If a family reunion means going six feet under, and the only family that shows up is worms,
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if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father, ’and to the worm, ‘My mother, ’ or ‘My sister, ’
15 Do you call that hope? Who on earth could find any hope in that?
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where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
16 No. If hope and I are to be buried together, I suppose you'll all come to the double funeral!"
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Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust? ”
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.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025