[1] I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
[2] He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
[3] Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
[4] He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
[5] He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
[6] He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
[7] He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
[8] Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
[9] He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
[10] He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
[11] He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
[12] He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
[13] He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
[14] I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
[15] He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
[16] He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
[17] My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
[18] So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
[19] Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
[20] Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
[21] Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
[22] Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
[23] They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
[24] “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
[25] The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul 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 still young.
[28] Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
[29] Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
[30] Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
[31] For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
[32] Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
[33] For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
[34] To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
[35] to deny a man justice before the Most High,
[36] to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
[37] Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
[38] Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
[39] Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
[40] Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
[41] Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
[42] “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
[43] You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
[44] You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
[45] You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
[46] All our enemies open their mouths against us.
[47] Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
[48] Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[49] My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
[50] until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
[51] My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
[52] Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
[53] They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
[54] The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
[55] I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
[56] You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
[57] You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
[58] You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
[59] You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
[60] You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
[61] O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
[62] the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
[63] When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
[64] You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
[65] Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
[66] You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.