[1] I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.
[2] He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
[3] Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.
[4] He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.
[5] He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
[6] In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.
[7] He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.
[8] Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.
[9] He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
[10] He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.
[11] He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.
[12] He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.
[13] He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.
[14] I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.
[15] He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.
[16] He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.
[17] My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.
[18] So I say, “My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD.”
[19] Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
[20] Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.
[21] This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
[22] The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.
[23] They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
[24] “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.”
[25] The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.
[26] It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD.
[27] It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.
[28] Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him.
[29] Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope.
[30] Let him give his cheek to the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach.
[31] For the Lord will not reject forever,
[32] For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.
[33] For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men.
[34] To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,
[35] To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,
[36] To defraud a man in his lawsuit— Of these things the Lord does not approve.
[37] Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?
[38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?
[39] Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?
[40] Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.
[41] We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;
[42] We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned.
[43] You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and have not spared.
[44] You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.
[45] You have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.
[46] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
[47] Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;
[48] My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[49] My eyes pour down unceasingly, Without stopping,
[50] Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven.
[51] My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.
[52] My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird;
[53] They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.
[54] Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”
[55] I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit.
[56] You have heard my voice, “Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help.”
[57] You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!”
[58] O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause; You have redeemed my life.
[59] O LORD, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case.
[60] You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me.
[61] You have heard their reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me.
[62] The lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long.
[63] Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.
[64] You will recompense them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands.
[65] You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them.
[66] You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD!