|
1.
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
|
|
2.
He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
|
|
3.
indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
|
|
4.
He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
|
|
5.
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
|
|
6.
He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
|
|
7.
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
|
|
8.
Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
|
|
9.
He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
|
|
10.
Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
|
|
11.
he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
|
|
12.
He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
|
|
13.
He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
|
|
14.
I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
|
|
15.
He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.
|
|
16.
He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
|
|
17.
I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
|
|
18.
So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
|
|
19.
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
|
|
20.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
|
|
21.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
|
|
22.
Because of the LORD'S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
|
|
23.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
|
|
24.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
|
|
25.
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one 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 young.
|
|
28.
Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
|
|
29.
Let him bury his face in the dust--there may yet be hope.
|
|
30.
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
|
|
31.
For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.
|
|
32.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
|
|
33.
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
|
|
34.
To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
|
|
35.
to deny a man his rights before the Most High,
|
|
36.
to deprive a man of justice--would not the Lord see such things?
|
|
37.
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
|
|
38.
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
|
|
39.
Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?
|
|
40.
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
|
|
41.
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
|
|
42.
"We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
|
|
43.
"You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.
|
|
44.
You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
|
|
45.
You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
|
|
46.
"All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.
|
|
47.
We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction."
|
|
48.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
|
|
49.
My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,
|
|
50.
until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
|
|
51.
What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.
|
|
52.
Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.
|
|
53.
They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;
|
|
54.
the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off.
|
|
55.
I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit.
|
|
56.
You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief."
|
|
57.
You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."
|
|
58.
O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life.
|
|
59.
You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!
|
|
60.
You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.
|
|
61.
O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me--
|
|
62.
what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.
|
|
63.
Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.
|
|
64.
Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done.
|
|
65.
Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!
|
|
66.
Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
|