International Standard Version

King James Bible

1"But now they mock me; men who are far younger than I, whose fathers I would have hated to entrust with my own sheep dogs.

1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

2Furthermore, what could I have gained from men whose strength is gone?

2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

3Unproductive due to poverty and hunger, they could only scratch in parched soil, devastated and desolated.

3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

4"They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat; and roots of the broom shrub for food.

4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

5Driven away from human company, they were shouted at as though they were thieves.

5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

6They lived in the most dangerous of ravines, in holes in the ground, and among rocks.

6To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

7They bray like donkeys among the bushes and huddle together under the desert weeds.

7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

8Sons of fools and of uncertain reputation, they have been driven from the land by scourging."

8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

9"Now, I've become the object of their mocking melodies; I'm nothing but a fool's proverb to them!

9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

10They abhor me—they keep their distance from me; but they don't refrain from spitting at the sight of me.

10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

11But God has loosened his cord and afflicted me; so they've cast off all restraints in my presence.

11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

12"A wretched crowd ambushes me to my right; they trip my feet; they build up their path of calamity for me.

12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

13They tear up my pathways; they profit from my destruction, and they need no help to do this!

13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

14They come like those who breach through a wall; as everything crashes around me they'll roll on and on!

14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

15My greatest fears have overcome me; my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm; my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud."

15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

16"Now, my soul pours itself out; the time of my affliction has taken control of me.

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

17The night racks my bones; and the pain that gnaws on me will not rest.

17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

18My clothes are disheveled by his forceful treatment of me; he restricts my movement like the collar of my cloak.

18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19"He tossed me into the mire; I've become like dust and ashes.

19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

20I cry for help to you, but you won't answer me; I stand still, but you only look at me.

20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

21You changed toward me, and now you're cruel to me; with your mighty hand you are persecuting me;

21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

22you carried me off in a wind storm, making me ride on it while you toss me about as the storm roars around me.

22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

23I know that you're about to kill me, so I'm about to go to the house that's appointed for all the living."

23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

24"Surely he won't stretch his hand against the needy, will he, especially if they cry to him in their calamity?

24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

25Haven't I wept for the one who is going through hard times? Haven't I grieved for the needy?

25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

26I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came.

26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27I'm boiling mad inside, and I won't remain silent; the time for my affliction to confront me has arrived.

27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

28"In growing darkness, I walked without sunlight; I stood in the congregation to cry for help.

28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

29I've become a brother to jackals, and a friend to ostriches.

29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

30My skin turns black all over me; and my bones seem burned from the heat.

30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

31But my harp is in mourning; my flute plays only songs for those who are weeping." Job Asserts His Moral Innocence

31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.