1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath.

2 H e has led me and brought me into darkness and not light.

3 S urely He has turned away from me; His hand is against me all the day.

4 M y flesh and my skin has He worn out and made old; He has shattered my bones.

5 H e has built up against me and surrounded me with bitterness, tribulation, and anguish.

6 H e has caused me to dwell in dark places like those long dead.

7 H e walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain.

8 E ven when I cry and shout for help, He shuts out my prayer.

9 H e has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.

10 H e is to me like a bear lying in wait, and like a lion in secret places.

11 H e has turned me off my ways and pulled me in pieces; He has made me desolate.

12 H e has bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13 H e has caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my heart.

14 I have become a derision to all my people, and their singsong all the day.

15 H e has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink to excess and until drunken with wormwood.

16 H e has also broken my teeth with gravel (stones); He has covered me with ashes.

17 A nd You have bereaved my soul and cast it off far from peace; I have forgotten what good and happiness are.

18 A nd I say, Perished is my strength and my expectation from the Lord.

19 r emember my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall.

20 M y soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me.

21 B ut this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:

22 I t is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

23 T hey are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.

24 T he Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.

25 T he Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him.

26 I t is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.

27 I t is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.

28 L et him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent, because has laid upon him.

29 L et him put his mouth in the dust —there may yet be hope.

30 L et him give his cheek to the One Who smites him; let him be filled with reproach.

31 F or the Lord will not cast off forever!

32 B ut though He causes grief, yet will He be moved to compassion according to the multitude of His loving-kindness and tender mercy.

33 F or He does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men.

34 T o trample and crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,

35 T o turn aside and deprive a man of his rights before the face of the Most High or a superior,

36 T o subvert a man in his cause— the Lord does not approve.

37 W ho is he who speaks and it comes to pass, if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it?

38 I s it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed ?

39 W hy does a living man sigh ? a man complain for the punishment of his sins?

40 L et us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord!

41 L et us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:

42 W e have transgressed and rebelled and You have not pardoned.

43 Y ou have covered Yourself with wrath and pursued and afflicted us; You have slain without pity.

44 Y ou have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.

45 Y ou have made us offscouring and refuse among the nations.

46 A ll our enemies have gaped at us and railed against us.

47 F ear and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.

48 M y eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 M y eyes overflow continually and will not cease

50 U ntil the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.

51 M y eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city.

52 I have been hunted down like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause.

53 T hey destroyed my life in the dungeon (pit) and cast a stone above me.

54 T he waters ran down on my head; I said, I am gone.

55 I called upon Your name, O Lord, out of the depths of the dungeon.

56 Y ou heard my voice: hide not Your ear at my prayer for relief.

57 Y ou drew near on the day I called to You; You said, Fear not.

58 O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul; You have rescued and redeemed my life!

59 O Lord, You have seen my wrong; judge and maintain my cause.

60 Y ou have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.

61 Y ou have heard their reproach and revilings, O Lord, and all their devices against me—

62 T he lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all day long.

63 L ook at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their singsong.

64 R ender to them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.

65 Y ou will give them hardness and blindness of heart; Your curse will be upon them.

66 Y ou will pursue and afflict them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens, O Lord.