New King James Version | New Living Translation |
1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. | 1I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD’s anger. |
2He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. | 2He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. |
3Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day. | 3He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. |
4He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones. | 4He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. |
5He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe. | 5He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. |
6He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago. | 6He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. |
7He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy. | 7He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. |
8Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. | 8And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. |
9He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. | 9He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked. |
10He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush. | 10He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. |
11He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate. | 11He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. |
12He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow. | 12He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. |
13He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins. | 13He shot his arrows deep into my heart. |
14I have become the ridicule of all my people— Their taunting song all the day. | 14My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. |
15He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood. | 15He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. |
16He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes. | 16He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. |
17You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. | 17Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. |
18And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD.” | 18I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!” |
19Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. | 19The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. |
20My soul still remembers And sinks within me. | 20I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. |
21This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. | 21Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: |
22Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. | 22The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. |
23They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. | 23Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. |
24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” | 24I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” |
25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. | 25The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. |
26It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD. | 26So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD. |
27It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. | 27And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline: |
28Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him; | 28Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD’s demands. |
29Let him put his mouth in the dust— There may yet be hope. | 29Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. |
30Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach. | 30Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies. |
31For the Lord will not cast off forever. | 31For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. |
32Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. | 32Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. |
33For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men. | 33For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow. |
34To crush under one’s feet All the prisoners of the earth, | 34If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land, |
35To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High, | 35if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High, |
36Or subvert a man in his cause— The Lord does not approve. | 36if they twist justice in the courts— doesn’t the Lord see all these things? |
37Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it? | 37Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? |
38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed? | 38Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? |
39Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins? | 39Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins? |
40Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD; | 40Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD. |
41Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven. | 41Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, |
42We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned. | 42“We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us. |
43You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and not pitied. | 43“You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy. |
44You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through. | 44You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you. |
45You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples. | 45You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations. |
46All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us. | 46“All our enemies have spoken out against us. |
47Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction. | 47We are filled with fear, for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.” |
48My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people. | 48Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people! |
49My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption, | 49My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop |
50Till the LORD from heaven Looks down and sees. | 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. |
51My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. | 51My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem. |
52My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird. | 52My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird. |
53They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me. | 53They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. |
54The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!” | 54The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!” |
55I called on Your name, O LORD, From the lowest pit. | 55But I called on your name, LORD, from deep within the pit. |
56You have heard my voice: “Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help.” | 56You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!” |
57You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, “Do not fear!” | 57Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.” |
58O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life. | 58Lord, you have come to my defense; you have redeemed my life. |
59O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; Judge my case. | 59You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD. Be my judge, and prove me right. |
60You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. | 60You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me. |
61You have heard their reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me, | 61LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me. You know all about the plans they have made. |
62The lips of my enemies And their whispering against me all the day. | 62My enemies whisper and mutter as they plot against me all day long. |
63Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song. | 63Look at them! Whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs. |
64Repay them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. | 64Pay them back, LORD, for all the evil they have done. |
65Give them a veiled heart; Your curse be upon them! | 65Give them hard and stubborn hearts, and then let your curse fall on them! |
66In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD. | 66Chase them down in your anger, destroying them beneath the LORD’s heavens. |
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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