New International Version NIV
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
1 “But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
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But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
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The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
3 Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
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Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush.
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And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
5 They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves.
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Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
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They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
7 They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.
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They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
8 A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
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The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
9 “And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
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Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
10 They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
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They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
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For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
12 On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.
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At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.
13 They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
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They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.
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They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
15 Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.
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I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
16 “And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.
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And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
17 Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
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In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me ; he binds me like the neck of my garment.
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With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.
19 He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
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I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.
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I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
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Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.
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Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
23 I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
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I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.
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But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
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I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
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I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
27 The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.
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My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
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I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
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I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
30 My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.
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My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
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My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
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.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.