King James Version KJV
New Revised Standard NRS
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.
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"But now they make sport of me, those who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
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What could I gain from the strength of their hands? All their vigor is gone.
3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
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Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
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they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
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They are driven out from society; people shout after them as after a thief.
6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
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In the gullies of wadis they must live, in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
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Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
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A senseless, disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.
9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
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"And now they mock me in song; I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
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They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
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Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me, they have cast 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.
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On my right hand the rabble rise up; they send me sprawling, and build roads for my ruin.
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
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They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains them.
14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
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As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
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Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away 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 soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
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The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
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With violence he seizes my garment; he grasps me by the collar of my tunic.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
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He has cast me into the mire, and 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.
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I cry to you and you do not answer me; I stand, and you merely look at me.
21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
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You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
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You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
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I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
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"Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
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Did I not weep for those whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
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But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
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My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still; days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
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I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
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I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
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My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
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My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.