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. |