^1 [a]I am a man who has known affliction
    under the rod of God’s wrath.
² He has led me and forced me to walk
    in darkness, not in the light.
³ Against me alone he has turned his hand
    again and again, throughout the day.
⁴ He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away;
    he has broken my bones.
⁵ He has besieged me and enveloped me
    with bitterness and hardship.
⁶ He has forced me to dwell in darkness
    like those long dead.
⁷ He has walled me in so that I cannot escape,
    and he weighed me down with heavy chains.
⁸ Even when I cry out and plead for help,
    he shuts out my prayer.
⁹ He has barred my way with blocks of stones
    and obstructed my paths.
¹⁰ He has been for me a bear lying in wait
    or a lion hiding in ambush.
¹¹ He has led me away and torn me to pieces,
    leaving me helpless.
¹² He has bent his bow and used me
    as the target for his arrows.
¹³ He has pierced deep within me
    with the shafts from his quiver.
¹⁴ I have become a laughingstock to my people;
    they taunt me in song throughout the day.
¹⁵ He has given me my fill of bitter herbs
    and sated me with wormwood.
¹⁶ He has broken my teeth^[b] with gravel
    and trampled my face into the dust.
¹⁷ My soul is deprived of peace;
    I no longer remember what happiness is.
¹⁸ Thus I cry out that my glory is gone
    as well as everything that I had hoped for from the Lord.
¹⁹ The realization of my poverty and homelessness
    is wormwood and gall to me.
²⁰ My soul continually reflects on this
    and is left downcast within me.
²¹ However, I will call this to mind
    as the reason for my hope:
^22 [c]The love of the Lord is never exhausted,
    nor do his deeds of mercy ever come to an end.
²³ They are renewed every morning;
    his faithfulness never ceases.
²⁴ The Lord is my portion, I say to myself;
    therefore, I will place my hope in him.
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul that seeks him.
²⁶ It is good to wait in silence
    for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷ It is good for a man to bear
    the yoke from his youth.
²⁸ Let that man sit alone and in silence
    when the yoke is laid upon him.
²⁹ Let him bury his head in the dust;
    there may still be hope.
³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to those who strike him
    and endure their insults.
³¹ For the rejection by the Lord
    will not last forever.
³² Even though he punishes, he will be compassionate
    in the abundance of his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not willingly afflict
    or cause grief to the children of men.
³⁴ When all the prisoners in a country
    are trampled underfoot,
³⁵ when human rights are perverted
    in defiance of the Most High,
³⁶ when someone is deprived of justice in the courts—
    is the Lord not aware of such evils?
³⁷ Who has only to command and it is done
    if the Lord has not given his approval?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
    that evil and good proceed?
³⁹ Why then should any people complain
    about being punished for their sins?
⁴⁰ Let us examine and test our ways
    and return to the Lord.
⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
    to God in heaven.
⁴² We have sinned and rebelled,
    and you have not forgiven us.
⁴³ You have veiled yourself in anger and pursued us,
    slaying us without pity.
⁴⁴ You have wrapped yourself in a cloud
    that no prayer can pierce.
⁴⁵ You have reduced us to filth
    and rubbish among the nations.
⁴⁶ All of our enemies have opened their mouths
    in a chorus of jeers against us.
⁴⁷ Terror and pitfall, devastation and ruin,
    have been our lot.
⁴⁸ My eyes flow with a torrent of tears
    because of the destruction of my people.
⁴⁹ My eyes will flow with unceasing tears,
    and there will be no respite
⁵⁰ until the Lord from heaven
    looks down and sees.
⁵¹ My eyes are swollen with grief
    at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
⁵² Those who were my enemies without justification
    have hunted me down like a bird.
⁵³ They thrust me alive into a pit
    and hurled down stones at me.
⁵⁴ The waters rose above my head,
    and I said, “I am lost.”
⁵⁵ I called upon your name, O Lord,
    from the depths of the pit.
⁵⁶ You heard me plead,
    “Do not close your ear to my cry for help!”
⁵⁷ You came near when I called out to you,
    and you said, “Do not fear.”
⁵⁸ O Lord, you have taken up my cause,
    and you have redeemed my life.
⁵⁹ You have seen the unjust treatment I endure;
    grant me justice.
⁶⁰ You have seen all their vindictiveness,
    all their plots against me.
⁶¹ You have heard their insults, O Lord;
    all their plots against me,
⁶² the whispers and murmuring of my foes
    against me all day long.
⁶³ Whether they sit or stand,
    see how I am the object of their taunts.
⁶⁴ Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord;
    punish them as they deserve.
⁶⁵ Give them hardness of heart
    as your curse upon them.
⁶⁶ Pursue them in anger and destroy them
    from under your heavens, O Lord.