1 -
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 given me gall to drink.
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 no one is 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 anyone.
34 - To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
35 - to deny people their rights before the Most High,
36 - to deprive them 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 the living complain when punished for their 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 perish.
55 - I called on your name, 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 - You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.
59 - Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!
60 - You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.
61 - 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, 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.