English Standard Version

Berean Study Bible

1“But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

1“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.

2What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

2What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them?

3Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

3Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.

4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

4They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

5They were banished from among men, shouted down like thieves,

6In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

6so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

7Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

7They cried out among the shrubs and huddled beneath the nettles.

8A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

8A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.

9“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

9And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.

10They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

10They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

11Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

11Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

12The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.

13They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

13They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.

14As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

14They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.

15Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

15Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

16“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

16And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.

17The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

17Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.

18With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

18With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.

19God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

19He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

20I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.

21You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

21You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.

22You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

22You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.

23For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

23Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

24“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

24Yet no one stretches out his hand to a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.

25Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

25Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

26But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

26But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.

27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

27I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.

28I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

28I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

29I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.

30My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

30My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.

31My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

31My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

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