New Revised Standard NRS
Common English Bible CEB
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 younger than I mock me, whose fathers I refused to put beside my sheepdogs.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands? All their vigor is gone.
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Their strength, what's it to me, their energy having perished?
3 Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
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Stiff from want and hunger, those who gnaw dry ground, yesterday's desolate waste,
4 they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
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who pluck off the leaves on a bush, the root of the broom— a shrub is their food.
5 They are driven out from society; people shout after them as after a thief.
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People banish them from society, shout at them as if to a thief;
6 In the gullies of wadis they must live, in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
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so they live in scary ravines, holes in the ground and rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
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Among shrubs, they make sounds like donkeys; they are huddled together under a bush,
8 A senseless, disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.
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children of fools and the nameless, whipped 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'm their song; I'm their cliché!
10 They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
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They detest me, keep their distance, don't withhold spit from my face.
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
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Because he loosened my bowstring and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 On my right hand the rabble rise up; they send me sprawling, and build roads for my ruin.
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On the right, upstarts rise and target my feet, build their siege ramps against me,
13 They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains them.
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destroy my road, profit from my fall, with no help.
14 As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.
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They advance as if through a destroyed wall; they roll along beneath the ruin.
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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Terrors crash upon me; they sweep away my honor like wind; my safety disappears 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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Now my life is poured out on me; days of misery have seized me.
17 The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
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At night he bores my bones; my gnawing pain won't rest.
18 With violence he seizes my garment; he grasps me by the collar of my tunic.
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With great force he grasps my clothing; it binds me like the neck of my shirt.
19 He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
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He hurls me into mud; I'm a cliché, like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you and you do not answer me; I stand, and you merely look at me.
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I cry to you, and you don't answer; I stand up, but you just look at me.
21 You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.
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You are cruel to me, attack me with the strength of your hand.
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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You lift me to the wind and make me ride; you melt me in its roar.
23 I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
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I know you will return me to death, the house appointed for all the living.
24 "Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help.
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Surely he won't strike someone in ruins if in distress he cries out to him,
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
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if I didn't weep for those who have a difficult day or my soul grieve for the needy;
26 But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.
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for I awaited good, but evil came; I expected light, but gloom arrived.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still; days of affliction come to meet me.
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My insides, churning, are never quiet; days of affliction confront me.
28 I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
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I walk in the dark, lacking sunshine; I rise in the assembly and cry out.
29 I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
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I have become a brother to jackals, a companion to young ostriches.
30 My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.
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My skin is charred; my bones are scorched by the heat.
31 My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
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My lyre is for mourning, my flute, a weeping sound.
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.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible