King James Version KJV
The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
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.
2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
2
What use to me was the strength in their hands? All their vigor had left them.
3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
3
Worn out by want and hunger, they gnaw the dry ground in the gloom of waste and desolation.
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
4
They pluck saltwort and bitter leaves; these, with broom tree roots, are their food.
5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
5
They are driven away from society, with men shouting after them as after a thief,
6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
6
to live in gullies and vadis, in holes in the ground and caves in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
7
Among the bushes they howl like beasts and huddle among the nettles,
8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
8
irresponsible nobodies driven from the land.
9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
9
"Now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword with them.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
10
They loathe me, they stand aloof from me; they don't hesitate to spit in my face!
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
11
For God has loosened my bowstring and humbled me; they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
12
At my right the street urchins attack, pushing me from place to place, besieging me with their ways of destruction,
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
13
breaking up my path, furthering my calamity -even those who have no one to help them.
14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
14
They move in as through a wide gap; amid the ruin they roll on in waves.
15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
15
Terrors tumble over me, chasing my honor away like the wind; my [hope of] salvation passes like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
16
"So now my life is ebbing away, days of grief have seized me.
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
17
At night pain pierces me to the bone, so that I never rest.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
18
My clothes are disfigured by the force [of my disease]; they choke me like the collar of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
19
[God] has thrown me into the mud; I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
20
"I call out to you [God], but you don't answer me; I stand up to plead, but you just look at me.
21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
21
You have turned cruelly against me; with your powerful hand you keep persecuting me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
22
You snatch me up on the wind and make me ride it; you toss me about in the tempest.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
23
For I know that you will bring me to death, the house assigned to everyone living.
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
24
"Surely [God] wouldn't strike at a ruin, if in one's calamity one cried out to him for help.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
25
Didn't I weep for those who were in trouble? Didn't I grieve for the needy?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
26
Yet when I hoped for good, what came was bad; when I expected light, what came was darkness.
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
27
My insides are in turmoil; they can't find rest; days of misery confront me.
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
28
I go about in sunless gloom, I rise in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
29
I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
30
My skin is black and falling off me, and my bones are burning with heat.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
31
So my lyre is tuned for mourning, my pipe to the voice of those who weep.