New International Version | NET Bible |
1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD's wrath. | 1I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of his wrath. |
2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; | 2He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light. |
3indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. | 3He repeatedly attacks me, he turns his hand against me all day long. |
4He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. | 4He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones. |
5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. | 5He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship. |
6He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. | 6He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago. |
7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. | 7He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains. |
8Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. | 8Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer. |
9He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. | 9He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable. |
10Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, | 10To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey. |
11he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. | 11He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate. |
12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. | 12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow. |
13He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. | 13He shot his arrows into my heart. |
14I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. | 14I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long. |
15He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink. | 15He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness. |
16He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. | 16He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust. |
17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. | 17I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. |
18So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." | 18So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the LORD." |
19I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. | 19Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison. |
20I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. | 20I continually think about this, and I am depressed. |
21Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: | 21But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope: |
22Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. | 22The LORD's loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end. |
23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. | 23They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant! |
24I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." | 24"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him. |
25The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; | 25The LORD is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him. |
26it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. | 26It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the LORD. |
27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. | 27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. |
28Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him. | 28Let a person sit alone in silence, when the LORD is disciplining him. |
29Let him bury his face in the dust-- there may yet be hope. | 29Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope. |
30Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. | 30Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults. |
31For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. | 31For the Lord will not reject us forever. |
32Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. | 32Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. |
33For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. | 33For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people. |
34To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, | 34To crush underfoot all the earth's prisoners, |
35to deny people their rights before the Most High, | 35to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High, |
36to deprive them of justice-- would not the Lord see such things? | 36to defraud a person in a lawsuit--the Lord does not approve of such things! |
37Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? | 37Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it? |
38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? | 38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes--both calamity and blessing? |
39Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? | 39Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? |
40Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. | 40Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the LORD. |
41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: | 41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: |
42"We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. | 42"We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven." |
43"You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. | 43You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy. |
44You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. | 44You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. |
45You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. | 45You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations. |
46"All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. | 46All our enemies have gloated over us; |
47We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction." | 47Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction. |
48Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. | 48Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. |
49My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, | 49Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break |
50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. | 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees what has happened. |
51What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city. | 51What my eyes see grieves me--all the suffering of the daughters in my city. |
52Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. | 52For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird. |
53They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; | 53They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me. |
54the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish. | 54The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die. |
55I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit. | 55I have called on your name, O LORD, from the deepest pit. |
56You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief." | 56You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!" |
57You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear." | 57You came near on the day I called to you; you said, "Do not fear!" |
58You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. | 58O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life. |
59LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! | 59You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; pronounce judgment on my behalf! |
60You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. | 60You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. |
61LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me-- | 61You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me. |
62what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. | 62My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long. |
63Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. | 63Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs. |
64Pay them back what they deserve, LORD, for what their hands have done. | 64Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to what they have done. |
65Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! | 65Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them! |
66Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD. | 66Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the LORD's heaven. |
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