New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "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.
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But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands? All their vigor is gone.
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Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.
3 Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
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They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.
4 they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
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They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.
5 They are driven out from society; people shout after them as after a thief.
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They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves
6 In the gullies of wadis they must live, in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
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They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
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They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.
8 A senseless, disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.
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They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.
9 "And now they mock me in song; I am a byword to them.
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And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.
10 They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
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I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
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For he has made loose the cord of my bow, and put me to shame; he has sent down my flag to the earth before me.
12 On my right hand the rabble rise up; they send me sprawling, and build roads for my ruin.
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The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:
13 They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains them.
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They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;
14 As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.
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As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
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Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.
16 "And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.
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But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:
17 The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
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The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.
18 With violence he seizes my garment; he grasps me by the collar of my tunic.
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With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
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Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.
20 I cry to you and you do not answer me; I stand, and you merely look at me.
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You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.
21 You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.
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You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.
22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
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Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.
23 I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
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For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.
24 "Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help.
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Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
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Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?
26 But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.
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For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still; days of affliction come to meet me.
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My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.
28 I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
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I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.
29 I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
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I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
30 My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.
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My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.
31 My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
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And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.
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.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.