Third Millennium Bible TMB
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 "My spirit is spent, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
1
"My spirit is broken. My days have been snuffed out. The cemetery [is waiting] for me.
2 Are there not mockers with me? And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
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Certainly, mockers are around me. My eyes are focused on their opposition.
3 "Lay it down now, give me a surety with Thee. Who is he that will strike hands with me?
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Please guarantee my bail yourself. Who else will guarantee it with a handshake?
4 For Thou hast hid their heart from understanding; therefore shalt Thou not exalt them.
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You have closed their minds so that they cannot understand. That is why you will not honor them.
5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
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(Whoever turns in friends to get their property should have his children's eyesight fail.)
6 "He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a drum to beat on.
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"Now he has made me a laughingstock for many people. Now they spit in my face.
7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
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Now my eyes are blurred from grief. Now all my limbs are like a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
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Decent people are shocked by this, and it stirs up the innocent against godless people.
9 The righteous also shall hold to his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
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Yet, the righteous person clings to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
10 "But as for you all, do ye return and come now, for I cannot find one wise man among you.
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"But now, all of you, come and try again! I won't find one wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
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My days are passing by. My plans are broken. My dreams [are shattered].
12 They change the night into day; the light is short because of darkness.
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You say that night is day. Light has nearly become darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness.
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If I look for the grave as my home and make my bed in the darkness,
14 I have said to corruption, `Thou art my father'; to the worm, `Thou art my mother and my sister.'
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if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'You are my mother and sister,'
15 And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it?
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then where is my hope? Can you see any hope left in me?
16 It shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust."
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Will hope go down with me to the gates of the grave? Will my hope rest with me in the dust?"
Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.