| 1 | I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. | |
| 2 | He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. | |
| 3 | Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day. | |
| 4 | He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones. | |
| 5 | He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe. | |
| 6 | He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago. | |
| 7 | He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy. | |
| 8 | Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. | |
| 9 | He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. | |
| 10 | He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush. | |
| 11 | He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate. | |
| 12 | He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow. | |
| 13 | He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins. | |
| 14 | I have become the ridicule of all my people--Their taunting song all the day. | |
| 15 | He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood. | |
| 16 | He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes. | |
| 17 | You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. | |
| 18 | And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD." | |
| 19 | Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. | |
| 20 | My soul still remembers And sinks within me. | |
| 21 | This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. | |
| 22 | Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. | |
| 23 | They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. | |
| 24 | "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" | |
| 25 | The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. | |
| 26 | It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD. | |
| 27 | It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. | |
| 28 | Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him; | |
| 29 | Let him put his mouth in the dust--There may yet be hope. | |
| 30 | Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach. | |
| 31 | For the Lord will not cast off forever. | |
| 32 | Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. | |
| 33 | For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men. | |
| 34 | To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth, | |
| 35 | To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High, | |
| 36 | Or subvert a man in his cause--The Lord does not approve. | |
| 37 | Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it? | |
| 38 | Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed? | |
| 39 | Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins? | |
| 40 | Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD; | |
| 41 | Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven. | |
| 42 | We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned. | |
| 43 | You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and not pitied. | |
| 44 | You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through. | |
| 45 | You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples. | |
| 46 | All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us. | |
| 47 | Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction. | |
| 48 | My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people. | |
| 49 | My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption, | |
| 50 | Till the LORD from heaven Looks down and sees. | |
| 51 | My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. | |
| 52 | My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird. | |
| 53 | They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me. | |
| 54 | The waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!" | |
| 55 | I called on Your name, O LORD, From the lowest pit. | |
| 56 | You have heard my voice: "Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help." | |
| 57 | You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, "Do not fear!" | |
| 58 | O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life. | |
| 59 | O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; Judge my case. | |
| 60 | You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. | |
| 61 | You have heard their reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me, | |
| 62 | The lips of my enemies And their whispering against me all the day. | |
| 63 | Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song. | |
| 64 | Repay them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. | |
| 65 | Give them a veiled heart; Your curse be upon them! | |
| 66 | In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD. | |