• 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.