¹I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of his fury,

²He has led me and made me walk

in darkness and not in light.

³Against me alone he turns his hand

again and again, all day.

⁴He has worn away my skin and flesh,

he has broken my bones.

⁵He has besieged and surrounded me

with bitterness and hardship.

⁶He has made me live in darkness,

like those who are long dead.

⁷He has walled me in, so I can’t escape;

he has weighed me down with chains.

⁸Even when I cry out, pleading for help,

he shuts out my prayer.

⁹He has barred my way with blocks of stone,

he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He lies in wait for me like a bear,

like a lion in hiding.

¹¹He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces,

leaving me stunned.

¹²He has bent his bow and used me

as a target for his arrows.

¹³He has pierced my vital organs

with shafts from his quiver.

¹⁴I’m a laughingstock to all my people,

the butt of their taunts all day long.

¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness,

sated me with wormwood.

¹⁶He has broken my teeth with gravel

and pressed me down into ashes.

¹⁷I have been so deprived of peace,

I have so forgotten what happiness is,

¹⁸that I think, “My strength is gone,

and so is my hope in Adonai .”

¹⁹Remember my utter misery,

the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰They are always on my mind;

this is why I am so depressed.

²¹But in my mind I keep returning to something,

something that gives me hope —

²²that the grace of Adonai is not exhausted,

that his compassion has not ended.

²³[On the contrary,] they are new every morning!

How great your faithfulness!

²⁴“Adonai is all I have,” I say;

“therefore I will put my hope in him.

²⁵Adonai is good to those waiting for him,

to those who are seeking him out.

²⁶It is good to wait patiently

for the saving help of Adonai .

²⁷It is good for a man

to bear the yoke from his youth.

²⁸Let him sit alone in silence

when he has laid it on him.

²⁹Let him submit absolutely;

there may yet be hope.

³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it,

and receive his fill of insults.

³¹For rejection by Adonai

does not last forever.

³²He may cause grief, but he will take pity,

in keeping with the greatness of his grace.

³³For he does not arbitrarily torment

or punish human beings.

³⁴When anyone tramples underfoot

any of the prisoners of the land;

³⁵when anyone deprives a person of justice,

in defiance of the Most High;

³⁶when someone is cheated of justice in court —

does Adonai not take note of such things?

³⁷Who can say something and have it happen

without Adonai ’s commanding it?

³⁸Don’t both bad things and good proceed

from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹Why should anyone alive complain,

even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways

and return to Adonai .

⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and our hands

to God in heaven and say,

⁴²“We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled;

you, for your part, have not forgiven.

⁴³“You have covered us with anger,

pursued and slaughtered us without pity.

⁴⁴You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick

that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have reduced us

to rubbish and filth among the peoples.

⁴⁶“All our adversaries

open their mouths to jeer at us.

⁴⁷Panic and pitfall have come upon us,

desolation and destruction.

⁴⁸My eyes stream with rivers of water

over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

⁴⁹My eyes weep ceaselessly;

there is no respite,

⁵⁰until Adonai looks down

and sees from heaven.

⁵¹My eyes make me so upset

at the fate of the women in my city.

⁵²Those who are my enemies for no reason

hunted me down like a bird.

⁵³They forced me alive into a pit

and threw stones on me.

⁵⁴Water rose above my head;

I thought, “I am finished!”

⁵⁵I called on your name, Adonai ,

from the bottom of the pit.

⁵⁶You heard my voice; don’t close your ear

at my sighs, at my cries.

⁵⁷You came near when I called to you;

you said, “Don’t be afraid.”

⁵⁸Adonai , you defended my cause;

you redeemed my life.

⁵⁹Adonai , you see how I have been wronged;

give judgment in my favor!

⁶⁰You have seen all their vindictiveness

and all their plots against me.

⁶¹You have heard their taunts, Adonai ,

and all their plots against me,

⁶²the whispered murmurings of my foes

against me all day long.

⁶³See how, whether they sit or stand,

I am the butt of their taunts.

⁶⁴Repay them, Adonai ,

as their deeds deserve.

⁶⁵Give them hardheartedness

as your curse on them.

⁶⁶Pursue them in anger!

Destroy them from under your heavens!