| 1 | I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; |
| 2 | he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; |
| 3 | surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. |
| 4 | He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones; |
| 5 | he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; |
| 6 | he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. |
| 7 | He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me; |
| 8 | though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; |
| 9 | he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked. |
| 10 | He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding; |
| 11 | he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; |
| 12 | he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow. |
| 13 | He drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver; |
| 14 | I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long. |
| 15 | He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood. |
| 16 | He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; |
| 17 | my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; |
| 18 | so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD." |
| 19 | Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall! |
| 20 | My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. |
| 21 | But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: |
| 22 | The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; |
| 23 | they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. |
| 24 | "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." |
| 25 | The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. |
| 26 | It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. |
| 27 | It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. |
| 28 | Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him; |
| 29 | let him put his mouth in the dust -- there may yet be hope; |
| 30 | let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. |
| 31 | For the Lord will not cast off for ever, |
| 32 | but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; |
| 33 | for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men. |
| 34 | To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, |
| 35 | to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High, |
| 36 | to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve. |
| 37 | Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? |
| 38 | Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come? |
| 39 | Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? |
| 40 | Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! |
| 41 | Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: |
| 42 | "We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven. |
| 43 | "Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity; |
| 44 | thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. |
| 45 | Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples. |
| 46 | "All our enemies rail against us; |
| 47 | panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; |
| 48 | my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
| 49 | "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, |
| 50 | until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees; |
| 51 | my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city. |
| 52 | "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; |
| 53 | they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; |
| 54 | water closed over my head; I said, `I am lost.' |
| 55 | "I called on thy name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; |
| 56 | thou didst hear my plea, `Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!' |
| 57 | Thou didst come near when I called on thee; thou didst say, `Do not fear!' |
| 58 | "Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life. |
| 59 | Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge thou my cause. |
| 60 | Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me. |
| 61 | "Thou hast heard their taunts, O LORD, all their devices against me. |
| 62 | The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long. |
| 63 | Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the burden of their songs. |
| 64 | "Thou wilt requite them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. |
| 65 | Thou wilt give them dullness of heart; thy curse will be on them. |
| 66 | Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them from under thy heavens, O LORD." |
| 1 | How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. |
| 2 | The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands! |
| 3 | Even the jackals give the breast and suckle their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. |
| 4 | The tongue of the nursling cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them. |
| 5 | Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps. |
| 6 | For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, no hand being laid on it. |
| 7 | Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire. |
| 8 | Now their visage is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled upon their bones, it has become as dry as wood. |
| 9 | Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who pined away, stricken by want of the fruits of the field. |
| 10 | The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
| 11 | The LORD gave full vent to his wrath, he poured out his hot anger; and he kindled a fire in Zion, which consumed its foundations. |
| 12 | The kings of the earth did not believe, or any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. |
| 13 | This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous. |
| 14 | They wandered, blind, through the streets, so defiled with blood that none could touch their garments. |
| 15 | "Away! Unclean!" men cried at them; "Away! Away! Touch not!" So they became fugitives and wanderers; men said among the nations, "They shall stay with us no longer." |
| 16 | The LORD himself has scattered them, he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders. |
| 17 | Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save. |
| 18 | Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come. |
| 19 | Our pursuers were swifter than the vultures in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness. |
| 20 | The breath of our nostrils, the LORD's anointed, was taken in their pits, he of whom we said, "Under his shadow we shall live among the nations." |
| 21 | Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, dweller in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. |
| 22 | The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins. |
| 1 | Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace! |
| 2 | Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens. |
| 3 | We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. |
| 4 | We must pay for the water we drink, the wood we get must be bought. |
| 5 | With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest. |
| 6 | We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough. |
| 7 | Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. |
| 8 | Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. |
| 9 | We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. |
| 10 | Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. |
| 11 | Women are ravished in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah. |
| 12 | Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. |
| 13 | Young men are compelled to grind at the mill; and boys stagger under loads of wood. |
| 14 | The old men have quit the city gate, the young men their music. |
| 15 | The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. |
| 16 | The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! |
| 17 | For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, |
| 18 | for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. |
| 19 | But thou, O LORD, dost reign for ever; thy throne endures to all generations. |
| 20 | Why dost thou forget us for ever, why dost thou so long forsake us? |
| 21 | Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old! |
| 22 | Or hast thou utterly rejected us? Art thou exceedingly angry with us? |
