1 ¶ Aleph I am a man that sees affliction in the rod of his wrath.

2 A leph He has led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

3 A leph Surely he is turned against me; he turns his hand against me all the day.

4 B eth My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones.

5 B eth He has built against me and compassed me with gall and travail.

6 B eth He has set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.

7 G imel He has hedged me about that I cannot get out; he has made my chain heavy.

8 G imel Even when I cried and shouted, he shut out my prayer.

9 G imel He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; he has made my paths crooked.

10 D aleth He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places.

11 D aleth He has made my ways crooked and pulled me in pieces; he has made me desolate.

12 D aleth He has bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13 H e He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.

14 H e I was a derision to all my people and their song every day.

15 H e He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunk with wormwood.

16 V au He has broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes.

17 V au My soul removed itself far from peace; I forgot about good.

18 V au And I said, My strength and my hope of the LORD is perished.

19 Z ain Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20 Z ain My soul shall have them still in remembrance because it is humbled in me.

21 ¶ Zain This shall go down into my heart; therefore I shall wait.

22 C het It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed because his mercies never diminish.

23 C het They are new every morning; great is thy faith.

24 C het The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore I will wait for him.

25 T eth The LORD is good unto those that wait in him, to the soul that seeks him.

26 T eth It is good to wait quietly in the salvation of the LORD.

27 T eth It is good for the man if he bears the yoke from his youth.

28 J od He shall sit alone and keep silence because he has borne it upon him.

29 J od He shall put his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

30 J od He shall turn his cheek unto him that smites him; he shall be filled with reproach.

31 C aph For the Lord will not cast off for ever:

32 C aph But though he causes grief, yet he will also have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

33 C aph For he does not afflict nor grieve the sons of men from his heart.

34 L amed To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

35 L amed To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

36 L amed To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.

37 ¶ Mem Who shall he be that saith that something comes which the Lord has not sent?

38 M em Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?

39 M em Why does the living man have pain, the man in his sins?

40 N un Let us search out our ways, and seek, and turn again to the LORD.

41 N un Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

42 ¶ Nun We have rebelled and been disloyal; therefore thou hast not forgiven.

43 S amech Thou hast unfurled anger and persecuted us; thou hast slain, thou hast not forgiven.

44 S amech Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud that our prayer should not pass through.

45 S amech Thou hast made us as the offscouring and abomination in the midst of the peoples.

46 P e All our enemies have opened their mouths upon us.

47 P e Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

48 P e My eyes stream with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 A in My eyes run down, and cease not, for there is no relief,

50 A in Until the LORD looks down, and beholds from the heavens.

51 A in My eyes make my soul sad because of all the daughters of my city.

52 T zaddi My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause.

53 T zaddi They bound up my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.

54 T zaddi Waters flowed over my head; then I said, I am dead.

55 ¶ Koph I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.

56 K oph Thou hast heard my voice; do not hide thine ear at my cry that I might breath.

57 K oph Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou didst say, Fear not.

58 R esh O Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

59 R esh O LORD, thou hast seen where I was wrong; plead thou my cause.

60 R esh Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.

61 S chin Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;

62 S chin The words of those that rose up against me, and their design against me all the day.

63 S chin Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their music.

64 T au Render unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

65 T au Give them sorrow of heart; thy curse unto them.

66 T au Persecute them in thy anger and cut them off from under the heavens, oh LORD.