Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Revised Standard NRS
1 But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not 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 The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
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What could I gain from the strength of their hands? All their vigor is gone.
3 Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
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Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
4 And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
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they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5 Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
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They are driven out from society; people shout after them as after a thief.
6 They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
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In the gullies of wadis they must live, in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
7 They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
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Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
8 The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
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A senseless, disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.
9 Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
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"And now they mock me in song; I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid 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 For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
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Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12 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.
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On my right hand the rabble rise up; they send me sprawling, and build roads for my ruin.
13 They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
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They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains them.
14 They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
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As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.
15 I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like 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 fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
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"And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
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The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18 With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with 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 I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
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He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
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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 changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
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You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.
22 Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
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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 I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
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I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
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"Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help.
25 I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on 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 I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
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But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27 My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have 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 indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
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I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
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I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
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My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
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My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
The Douay-Rheims Bible 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.