Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 But men younger than I am make fun of me now! Their fathers have always been so worthless that I wouldn't let them help my dogs guard sheep.
1
"But now those who are younger than I, have me in derision, Whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
2 They were a bunch of worn-out men, too weak to do any work for me.
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Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, Men in whom ripe age has perished?
3 They were so poor and hungry that they would gnaw dry roots - at night, in wild, desolate places.
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They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
4 They pulled up the plants of the desert and ate them, even the tasteless roots of the broom tree!
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They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.
5 Everyone drove them away with shouts, as if they were shouting at thieves.
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They are driven forth from the midst of men; They cry after them as after a thief;
6 They had to live in caves, in holes dug in the sides of cliffs.
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So that they dwell in frightful valleys, And in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Out in the wilds they howled like animals and huddled together under the bushes.
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Among the bushes they bray; And under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 A worthless bunch of nameless nobodies! They were driven out of the land.
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They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.
9 Now they come and laugh at me; I am nothing but a joke to them.
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"Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.
10 They treat me with disgust; they think they are too good for me, and even come and spit in my face.
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They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And don't hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because God has made me weak and helpless, they turn against me with all their fury.
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For he has loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have thrown off restraint before me.
12 This mob attacks me head-on; they send me running; they prepare their final assault.
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On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They cut off my escape and try to destroy me; and there is no one to stop them.
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They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, Without anyone's help.
14 They pour through the holes in my defenses and come crashing down on top of me;
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As through a wide breach they come, In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.
15 I am overcome with terror; my dignity is gone like a puff of wind, and my prosperity like a cloud.
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Terrors are turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
16 Now I am about to die; there is no relief for my suffering.
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"Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.
17 At night my bones all ache; the pain that gnaws me never stops.
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In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18 God seizes me by my collar and twists my clothes out of shape.
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By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He throws me down in the mud; I am no better than dirt.
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He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I call to you, O God, but you never answer; and when I pray, you pay no attention.
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I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
21 You are treating me cruelly; you persecute me with all your power.
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You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.
22 You let the wind blow me away; you toss me about in a raging storm.
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You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.
23 I know you are taking me off to my death, to the fate in store for everyone.
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For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
24 Why do you attack a ruined man, one who can do nothing but beg for pity?
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"However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
25 Didn't I weep with people in trouble and feel sorry for those in need?
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Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?
26 I hoped for happiness and light, but trouble and darkness came instead.
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When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 I am torn apart by worry and pain; I have had day after day of suffering.
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My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.
28 I go about in gloom, without any sunshine; I stand up in public and plead for help.
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I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 My voice is as sad and lonely as the cries of a jackal or an ostrich.
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I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin has turned dark; I am burning with fever.
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My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.
31 Where once I heard joyful music, now I hear only mourning and weeping.
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Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.