New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
1
"My spirit is broken, my days used up, my grave dug and waiting.
2 Surely there are mockers around 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 that will give surety 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 minds 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 Those who denounce friends for reward— the eyes of their 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 people spit.
6
"God, you've made me the talk of the town - people spit in my face;
7 My eye has grown dim from grief, 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 stir themselves 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 hold to their way, and they that have clean hands grow 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 back now, all of you, and I shall not find a sensible person 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.'
12
My hope that night would turn into day, my hope that dawn was about to break.
13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch 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!"
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.