The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
New Living Translation NLT
1 "But now those younger than I hold me in derision, men whose fathers I wouldn't even have put with the dogs that guarded my sheep.
1
“But now I am mocked by people younger than I, by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs.
2 What use to me was the strength in their hands? All their vigor had left them.
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A lot of good they are to me— those worn-out wretches!
3 Worn out by want and hunger, they gnaw the dry ground in the gloom of waste and desolation.
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They are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.
4 They pluck saltwort and bitter leaves; these, with broom tree roots, are their food.
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They pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees.
5 They are driven away from society, with men shouting after them as after a thief,
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They are driven from human society, and people shout at them as if they were thieves.
6 to live in gullies and vadis, in holes in the ground and caves in the rocks.
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So now they live in frightening ravines, in caves and among the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they howl like beasts and huddle among the nettles,
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They sound like animals howling among the bushes, huddled together beneath the nettles.
8 irresponsible nobodies driven from the land.
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They are nameless fools, outcasts from society.
9 "Now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword with them.
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“And now they mock me with vulgar songs! They taunt me!
10 They loathe me, they stand aloof from me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face!
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They despise me and won’t come near me, except to spit in my face.
11 For God has loosened my bowstring and humbled me; they throw off restraint in my presence.
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For God has cut my bowstring. He has humbled me, so they have thrown off all restraint.
12 At my right the street urchins attack, pushing me from place to place, besieging me with their ways of destruction,
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These outcasts oppose me to my face. They send me sprawling and lay traps in my path.
13 breaking up my path, furthering my calamity -even those who have no one to help them.
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They block my road and do everything they can to destroy me. They know I have no one to help me.
14 They move in as through a wide gap; amid the ruin they roll on in waves.
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They come at me from all directions. They jump on me when I am down.
15 Terrors tumble over me, chasing my honor away like the wind; my [hope of] salvation passes like a cloud.
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I live in terror now. My honor has blown away in the wind, and my prosperity has vanished like a cloud.
16 "So now my life is ebbing away, days of grief have seized me.
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“And now my life seeps away. Depression haunts my days.
17 At night pain pierces me to the bone, so that I never rest.
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At night my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly.
18 My clothes are disfigured by the force [of my disease]; they choke me like the collar of my coat.
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With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt. He grips me by the collar of my coat.
19 [God] has thrown me into the mud; I have become like dust and ashes.
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He has thrown me into the mud. I’m nothing more than dust and ashes.
20 "I call out to you [God], but you don't answer me; I stand up to plead, but you just look at me.
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“I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer. I stand before you, but you don’t even look.
21 You have turned cruelly against me; with your powerful hand you keep persecuting me.
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You have become cruel toward me. You use your power to persecute me.
22 You snatch me up on the wind and make me ride it; you toss me about in the tempest.
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You throw me into the whirlwind and destroy me in the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death, the house assigned to everyone living.
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And I know you are sending me to my death— the destination of all who live.
24 "Surely [God] wouldn't strike at a ruin, if in one's calamity one cried out to him for help.
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“Surely no one would turn against the needy when they cry for help in their trouble.
25 Didn't I weep for those who were in trouble? Didn't I grieve for the needy?
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Did I not weep for those in trouble? Was I not deeply grieved for the needy?
26 Yet when I hoped for good, what came was bad; when I expected light, what came was darkness.
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So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell.
27 My insides are in turmoil; they can't find rest; days of misery confront me.
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My heart is troubled and restless. Days of suffering torment me.
28 I go about in sunless gloom, I rise in the assembly and cry for help.
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I walk in gloom, without sunlight. I stand in the public square and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.
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Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals and a companion to owls.
30 My skin is black and falling off me, and my bones are burning with heat.
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My skin has turned dark, and my bones burn with fever.
31 So my lyre is tuned for mourning, my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
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My harp plays sad music, and my flute accompanies those who weep.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.