| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1“My spirit is crushed, and my life is nearly snuffed out. The grave is ready to receive me. | 1My spirit is broken, my days have faded out, the grave awaits me. |
| 2I am surrounded by mockers. I watch how bitterly they taunt me. | 2Surely mockery is with me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility. |
| 3“You must defend my innocence, O God, since no one else will stand up for me. | 3Make then my pledge with you. Who else will put up security for me? |
| 4You have closed their minds to understanding, but do not let them triumph. | 4Because you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not exalt them. |
| 5They betray their friends for their own advantage, so let their children faint with hunger. | 5If a man denounces his friends for personal gain, the eyes of his children will fail. |
| 6“God has made a mockery of me among the people; they spit in my face. | 6He has made me a byword to people, I am the one in whose face they spit. |
| 7My eyes are swollen with weeping, and I am but a shadow of my former self. | 7My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. |
| 8The virtuous are horrified when they see me. The innocent rise up against the ungodly. | 8Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent man is troubled with the godless. |
| 9The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger. | 9But the righteous man holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger. |
| 10“As for all of you, come back with a better argument, though I still won’t find a wise man among you. | 10"But turn, all of you, and come now! I will not find a wise man among you. |
| 11My days are over. My hopes have disappeared. My heart’s desires are broken. | 11My days have passed, my plans are shattered, even the desires of my heart. |
| 12These men say that night is day; they claim that the darkness is light. | 12These men change night into day; they say, 'The light is near in the face of darkness.' |
| 13What if I go to the grave and make my bed in darkness? | 13If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, |
| 14What if I call the grave my father, and the maggot my mother or my sister? | 14If I cry to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My Mother,' or 'My sister,' |
| 15Where then is my hope? Can anyone find it? | 15where then is my hope? And my hope, who sees it? |
| 16No, my hope will go down with me to the grave. We will rest together in the dust!” | 16Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?" |
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