[1] I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
[2] He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
[3] Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
[4] He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
[5] He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
[6] He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
[7] He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
[8] Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
[9] He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
[10] He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
[11] He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
[12] He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
[13] He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.
[14] I have become the ridicule of all my people— Their taunting song all the day.
[15] He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
[16] He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
[17] You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
[18] And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord.”
[19] Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
[20] My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
[21] This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
[22] Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
[23] They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
[24] “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”
[25] The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
[26] It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.
[27] It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
[28] Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him;
[29] Let him put his mouth in the dust— There may yet be hope.
[30] Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach.
[31] For the Lord will not cast off forever.
[32] Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies.
[33] For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
[34] To crush under one’s feet All the prisoners of the earth,
[35] To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High,
[36] Or subvert a man in his cause— The Lord does not approve.
[37] Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it?
[38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed?
[39] Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?
[40] Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord;
[41] Let us lift our hearts and hands To 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 not pitied.
[44] You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through.
[45] You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.
[46] All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us.
[47] Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction.
[48] My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[49] My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption,
[50] Till the Lord from heaven Looks down and sees.
[51] My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.
[52] My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird.
[53] They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me.
[54] The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”
[55] I called on Your name, O Lord, From the lowest pit.
[56] You have heard my voice: “Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
[57] You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, “Do not fear!”
[58] O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life.
[59] O Lord, You have seen how I am wronged; 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 enemies And their whispering against me all the day.
[63] Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song.
[64] Repay them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands.
[65] Give them a veiled heart; Your curse be upon them!
[66] In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the Lord.