King James Version KJV
Good News Translation GNT
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 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.
2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
2
They were a bunch of worn-out men, too weak to do any work for me.
3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
3
They were so poor and hungry that they would gnaw dry roots - at night, in wild, desolate places.
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
4
They pulled up the plants of the desert and ate them, even the tasteless roots of the broom tree!
5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
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Everyone drove them away with shouts, as if they were shouting at thieves.
6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
6
They had to live in caves, in holes dug in the sides of cliffs.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
7
Out in the wilds they howled like animals and huddled together under the bushes.
8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
8
A worthless bunch of nameless nobodies! They were driven out of the land.
9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
9
Now they come and laugh at me; I am nothing but a joke to them.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
10
They treat me with disgust; they think they are too good for me, and even come and spit in my face.
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
11
Because God has made me weak and helpless, they turn against me with all their fury.
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
This mob attacks me head-on; they send me running; they prepare their final assault.
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
13
They cut off my escape and try to destroy me; and there is no one to stop them.
14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
14
They pour through the holes in my defenses and come crashing down on top of me;
15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
15
I am overcome with terror; my dignity is gone like a puff of wind, and my prosperity like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
16
Now I am about to die; there is no relief for my suffering.
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
17
At night my bones all ache; the pain that gnaws me never stops.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
18
God seizes me by my collar and twists my clothes out of shape.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
19
He throws me down in the mud; I am no better than dirt.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
20
I call to you, O God, but you never answer; and when I pray, you pay no attention.
21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
21
You are treating me cruelly; you persecute me with all your power.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
22
You let the wind blow me away; you toss me about in a raging storm.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
23
I know you are taking me off to my death, to the fate in store for everyone.
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
24
Why do you attack a ruined man, one who can do nothing but beg for pity?
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
25
Didn't I weep with people in trouble and feel sorry for those in need?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
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I hoped for happiness and light, but trouble and darkness came instead.
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
27
I am torn apart by worry and pain; I have had day after day of suffering.
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
28
I go about in gloom, without any sunshine; I stand up in public and plead for help.
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
29
My voice is as sad and lonely as the cries of a jackal or an ostrich.
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
30
My skin has turned dark; I am burning with fever.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
31
Where once I heard joyful music, now I hear only mourning and weeping.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.