1 | I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath. |
2 | By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light. |
3 | Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day. |
4 | My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken. |
5 | He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow. |
6 | He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead. |
7 | He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain. |
8 | Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out. |
9 | He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted. |
10 | He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places. |
11 | By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste. |
12 | With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows. |
13 | He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body. |
14 | I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day. |
15 | He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure. |
16 | By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust. |
17 | My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good. |
18 | And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord. |
19 | Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison. |
20 | My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me. |
21 | This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope. |
22 | It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit. |
23 | They are new every morning; great is your good faith. |
24 | I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him. |
25 | The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him. |
26 | It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord. |
27 | It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young. |
28 | Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him. |
29 | Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope. |
30 | Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame. |
31 | For the Lord does not give a man up for ever. |
32 | For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love. |
33 | For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men. |
34 | In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, |
35 | In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High. |
36 | In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure. |
37 | Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord? |
38 | Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High? |
39 | What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin? |
40 | Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord; |
41 | Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens. |
42 | We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness. |
43 | Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity; |
44 | Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through. |
45 | You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples. |
46 | The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us. |
47 | Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction. |
48 | Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
49 | My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest, |
50 | Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven. |
51 | The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town. |
52 | They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird; |
53 | They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones. |
54 | Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off. |
55 | I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison. |
56 | My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry. |
57 | You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear. |
58 | O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe. |
59 | O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause. |
60 | You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me. |
61 | Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me; |
62 | The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day. |
63 | Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song. |
64 | You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands. |
65 | You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them. |
66 | You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord. |