| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. | 1My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished. A graveyard awaits me. |
| 2Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? | 2Surely mockers surround me and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion. |
| 3Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? | 3Make arrangements! Put up security for me. Who else will be my sponsor? |
| 4For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them. | 4You have closed their minds to understanding, therefore You will not honor them. |
| 5He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. | 5If a man informs on his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail. |
| 6He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. | 6He has made me an object of scorn to the people; I have become a man people spit at. |
| 7Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. | 7My eyes have grown dim from grief, and my whole body has become but a shadow. |
| 8Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. | 8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are roused against the godless. |
| 9The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. | 9Yet the righteous person will hold to his way, and the one whose hands are clean will grow stronger. |
| 10But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. | 10But come back and try again, all of you. I will not find a wise man among you. |
| 11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. | 11My days have slipped by; my plans have been ruined, even the things dear to my heart. |
| 12They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. | 12They turned night into day and made light seem near in the face of darkness. |
| 13If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. | 13If I await Sheol as my home, spread out my bed in darkness, |
| 14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. | 14and say to corruption: You are my father, and to the maggot: My mother or my sister, |
| 15And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? | 15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? |
| 16They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. | 16Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, or will we descend together to the dust? |
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