1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. |
2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; |
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. |
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. |
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. |
6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. |
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. |
8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. |
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. |
10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, |
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. |
12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. |
13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. |
14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. |
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. |
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. |
17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. |
18 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." |
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. |
20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. |
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: |
22 Because of the LORD'S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. |
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. |
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." |
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; |
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. |
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. |
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him. |
29 Let him bury his face in the dust--there may yet be hope. |
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. |
31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. |
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. |
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. |
34 To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, |
35 to deny a man his rights before the Most High, |
36 to deprive a man of justice--would not the Lord see such things? |
37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? |
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? |
39 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? |
40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. |
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: |
42 "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. |
43 "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. |
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. |
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. |
46 "All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. |
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction." |
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. |
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, |
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. |
51 What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city. |
52 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. |
53 They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; |
54 the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off. |
55 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. |
56 You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief." |
57 You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear." |
58 O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life. |
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! |
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. |
61 O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me-- |
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. |
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. |
64 Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done. |
65 Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! |
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD. |