1 I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath. |
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light. |
3 Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day. |
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones. |
5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. |
6 In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead. |
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy. |
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer. |
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked. |
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places. |
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate. |
12 He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow. |
13 He made the arrows of His quiver
To enter into my inward parts. |
14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day. |
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood. |
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust. |
17 My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten happiness. |
18 So I say, "My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the LORD." |
19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. |
20 Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me. |
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope. |
22 The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail. |
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. |
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I have hope in Him." |
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him. |
26 It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the LORD. |
27 It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth. |
28 Let him sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him. |
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust,
Perhaps there is hope. |
30 Let him give his cheek to the smiter,
Let him be filled with reproach. |
31 For the Lord will not reject forever, |
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness. |
33 For He does not afflict willingly
Or grieve the sons of men. |
34 To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the land, |
35 To deprive a man of justice
In the presence of the Most High, |
36 To defraud a man in his lawsuit--
Of these things the Lord does not approve. |
37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it? |
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That both good and ill go forth? |
39 Why should any living mortal, or any man,
Offer complaint in view of his sins? |
40 Let us examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the LORD. |
41 We lift up our heart and hands
Toward 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 have not spared. |
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud
So that no prayer can pass through. |
45 You have made us mere offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples. |
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. |
47 Panic and pitfall have befallen us,
Devastation and destruction; |
48 My eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
49 My eyes pour down unceasingly,
Without stopping, |
50 Until the LORD looks down
And sees from heaven. |
51 My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city. |
52 My enemies without cause
Hunted me down like a bird; |
53 They have silenced me in the pit
And have placed a stone on me. |
54 Waters flowed over my head;
I said, "I am cut off!" |
55 I called on Your name, O LORD,
Out of the lowest pit. |
56 You have heard my voice,
" Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help." |
57 You drew near when I called on You;
You said, " Do not fear!" |
58 O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause;
You have redeemed my life. |
59 O LORD, You have seen my oppression;
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 assailants and their whispering
Are against me all day long. |
63 Look on their sitting and their rising;
I am their mocking song. |
64 You will recompense them, O LORD,
According to the work of their hands. |
65 You will give them hardness of heart,
Your curse will be on them. |
66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the heavens of the LORD! |
