Common English Bible CEB
New King James Version NKJV
1 But now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I refused to put beside my sheepdogs.
1
"But now they mock at me, men younger than I, Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
2 Their strength, what's it to me, their energy having perished?
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Indeed, what profit is the strength of their hands to me? Their vigor has perished.
3 Stiff from want and hunger, those who gnaw dry ground, yesterday's desolate waste,
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They are gaunt from want and famine, Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
4 who pluck off the leaves on a bush, the root of the broom— a shrub is their food.
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Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And broom tree roots for their food.
5 People banish them from society, shout at them as if to a thief;
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They were driven out from among men, They shouted at them as at a thief.
6 so they live in scary ravines, holes in the ground and rocks.
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They had to live in the clefts of the valleys, In caves of the earth and the rocks.
7 Among shrubs, they make sounds like donkeys; they are huddled together under a bush,
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Among the bushes they brayed, Under the nettles they nestled.
8 children of fools and the nameless, whipped out of the land.
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They were sons of fools, Yes, sons of vile men; They were scourged from the land.
9 And now I'm their song; I'm their cliché!
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"And now I am their taunting song; Yes, I am their byword.
10 They detest me, keep their distance, don't withhold spit from my face.
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They abhor me, they keep far from me; They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because he loosened my bowstring and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
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Because He has loosed my bowstring and afflicted me, They have cast off restraint before me.
12 On the right, upstarts rise and target my feet, build their siege ramps against me,
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At my right hand the rabble arises; They push away my feet, And they raise against me their ways of destruction.
13 destroy my road, profit from my fall, with no help.
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They break up my path, They promote my calamity; They have no helper.
14 They advance as if through a destroyed wall; they roll along beneath the ruin.
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They come as broad breakers; Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
15 Terrors crash upon me; they sweep away my honor like wind; my safety disappears like a cloud.
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Terrors are turned upon me; They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
16 Now my life is poured out on me; days of misery have seized me.
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"And now my soul is poured out because of my plight; The days of affliction take hold of me.
17 At night he bores my bones; my gnawing pain won't rest.
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My bones are pierced in me at night, And my gnawing pains take no rest.
18 With great force he grasps my clothing; it binds me like the neck of my shirt.
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By great force my garment is disfigured; It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He hurls me into mud; I'm a cliché, like dust and ashes.
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He has cast me into the mire, And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you, and you don't answer; I stand up, but you just look at me.
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"I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me.
21 You are cruel to me, attack me with the strength of your hand.
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But You have become cruel to me; With the strength of Your hand You oppose me.
22 You lift me to the wind and make me ride; you melt me in its roar.
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You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it; You spoil my success.
23 I know you will return me to death, the house appointed for all the living.
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For I know that You will bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
24 Surely he won't strike someone in ruins if in distress he cries out to him,
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"Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins, If they cry out when He destroys it.
25 if I didn't weep for those who have a difficult day or my soul grieve for the needy;
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Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 for I awaited good, but evil came; I expected light, but gloom arrived.
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But when I looked for good, evil came to me; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
27 My insides, churning, are never quiet; days of affliction confront me.
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My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; Days of affliction confront me.
28 I walk in the dark, lacking sunshine; I rise in the assembly and cry out.
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I go about mourning, but not in the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals, a companion to young ostriches.
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I am a brother of jackals, And a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is charred; my bones are scorched by the heat.
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My skin grows black and falls from me; My bones burn with fever.
31 My lyre is for mourning, my flute, a weeping sound.
31
My harp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the voice of those who weep.
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.