Jubilee Bible 2000 JUB
New International Version NIV
1 But now <em>those that are</em> younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
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“But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
2 For, unto what <em>might</em> the strength of their hands <em>profit</em> me, in whom time was lost?
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Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
3 For want and famine <em>they walked</em> alone; fleeing into solitude, to the dark place, desolate and waste.
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Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
4 Who cut up mallows among the bushes and juniper roots <em>for</em> their food.
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In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush.
5 They were driven forth from among <em>men</em> (they cried after them as <em>after</em> a thief).
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They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They dwelt in the clifts of the valleys, <em>in</em> caves of the earth, and <em>in</em> the rocks.
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They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
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They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 <em>They were</em> sons of fools and men without names; they were lower than the earth.
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A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
9 And now I am their song, and I am their byword.
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“And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
10 They abhor me, they distance themselves from me, and do not spare to spit in my face.
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They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because <em>God</em> has loosed my cord and afflicted me, they have also gone out of control before my face.
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Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 Upon <em>my</em> right <em>hand</em> rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
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On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.
13 They cast down my path, they took advantage of my calamity, against them there was no helper.
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They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They came in as through a wide breach; they were stirred up because of my calamity.
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They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 They have loosed terrors upon me; they fought my will as the wind and my saving health as a cloud that passes.
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Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
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“And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.
17 My bones pierce me in the night, and my sinews take no rest.
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Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
18 By the great force <em>of my disease</em> my garment is changed; it binds me about as the collar of my coat.
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In his great power God becomes like clothing to me ; he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
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He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me; I present myself, and thou regardest me <em>not</em>.
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“I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 Thou art become cruel to me; with the strength of thy hand thou dost hate me.
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You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
22 Thou didst lift me up and cause me to ride upon the wind, and didst dissolve my being.
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You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.
23 For I know <em>that</em> thou dost conduct me unto death and <em>to</em> the house appointed for all living.
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I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
24 But he will not stretch out <em>his</em> hand against the grave; do those who are buried cry out when he destroys them?
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“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.
25 Did I not weep for the one that was in trouble? Was <em>not</em> my soul grieved for the needy?
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Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I expected good, then evil came <em>unto me</em>; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
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Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 My bowels boil and do not rest; the days of affliction came upon me.
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The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.
28 I went about darkened, but not by the sun; I stood up and cried out in the congregation.
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I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to dragons and a companion to owls.
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I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
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My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.
31 My harp is <em>turned</em> to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
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My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.