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

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

2 H e has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.

Aleph He has led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

3 S urely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.

Aleph Surely he is turned against me; he turns his hand against me all the day.

4 H e has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.

Beth My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones.

5 H e has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.

Beth He has built against me and compassed me with gall and travail.

6 I n dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.

Beth He has set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.

7 H e has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

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

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

Gimel Even when I cried and shouted, he shut out my prayer.

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

Gimel He 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, Like a lion in secret places.

Daleth He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places.

11 H e has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.

Daleth He has made my ways crooked and pulled me in pieces; he has made me desolate.

12 H e bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.

Daleth He has bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13 H e made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

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

14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.

He I was a derision to all my people and their song every day.

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

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

16 H e has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.

Vau He has broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes.

17 M y soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.

Vau My soul removed itself far from peace; I forgot about good.

18 S o I say, “My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the Lord.” Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy

Vau And I said, My strength and my hope of the LORD is perished.

19 R emember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.

Zain Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20 S urely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.

Zain My soul shall have them still in remembrance because it is humbled in me.

21 T his I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.

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

22 T he Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

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

23 T hey are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Chet They are new every morning; great is thy faith.

24 “ The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.”

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

25 T he Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

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

26 I t is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord.

Teth It is good to wait quietly in the salvation of the LORD.

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

Teth It is good for the man if he bears the yoke from his youth.

28 L et him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him.

Jod He shall sit alone and keep silence because he has borne it upon him.

29 L et him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope.

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

30 L et him give his cheek to the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach.

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

31 F or the Lord will not reject forever,

Caph For the Lord will not cast off for ever:

32 F or if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.

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

33 F or He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men.

Caph For he does not afflict nor grieve the sons of men from his heart.

34 T o crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,

Lamed To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

35 T o deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,

Lamed To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

36 T o defraud a man in his lawsuit— Of these things the Lord does not approve.

Lamed To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.

37 W ho is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it ?

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

38 I s it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?

Mem Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?

39 W hy should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?

Mem Why does the living man have pain, the man in his sins?

40 L et us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the Lord.

Nun Let us search out our ways, and seek, and turn again to the LORD.

41 W e lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;

Nun Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

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

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

43 Y ou have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and have not spared.

Samech Thou hast unfurled anger and persecuted us; thou hast slain, thou hast not forgiven.

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

Samech Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud that our prayer should not pass through.

45 Y ou have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.

Samech Thou hast made us as the offscouring and abomination in the midst of the peoples.

46 A ll our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

Pe All our enemies have opened their mouths upon us.

47 P anic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;

Pe Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

48 M y eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Pe My eyes stream with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 M y eyes pour down unceasingly, Without stopping,

Ain My eyes run down, and cease not, for there is no relief,

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

Ain Until the LORD looks down, and beholds from the heavens.

51 M y eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.

Ain My eyes make my soul sad because of all the daughters of my city.

52 M y enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird;

Tzaddi My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause.

53 T hey have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.

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

54 W aters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

Tzaddi Waters flowed over my head; then I said, I am dead.

55 I called on Your name, O Lord, Out of the lowest pit.

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

56 Y ou have heard my voice, “ Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help.”

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

57 Y ou drew near when I called on You; You said, “ Do not fear!”

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

58 O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life.

Resh O Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

59 O Lord, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case.

Resh O LORD, thou hast seen where I was wrong; plead thou my cause.

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

Resh Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.

61 Y ou have heard their reproach, O Lord, All their schemes against me.

Schin Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;

62 T he lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long.

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

63 L ook on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.

Schin Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their music.

64 Y ou will recompense them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands.

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

65 Y ou will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them.

Tau Give them sorrow of heart; thy curse unto them.

66 Y ou will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the Lord!

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