1 *Jer. 20:18I am the man who has seen affliction

under the *Ps. 2:9rod of his wrath;

2 he has driven and brought me

*Isa. 5:30into 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;

*Ps. 51:8;Isa. 38:13;Jer. 50:17he has broken my bones;

5 *[Job 19:12] he has besieged and enveloped me

with *ver. 19;Deut. 29:18bitterness and tribulation;

6 *Ps. 143:3he has made me dwell in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

7 *Job 19:8He has walled me about so that *Ps. 88:8I cannot escape;

he has made my chains heavy;

8 though *Job 19:7;30:20;Ps. 22:2I call and cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

9 *[See ver. 7above]he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

he has made my paths crooked.

10 *See Hos. 13:8He is a bear lying in wait for me,

a lion in hiding;

11 *[Jer. 18:15] he turned aside my steps and *[See ver. 10above] tore me to pieces;

*ch. 1:13he has made me desolate;

12 *ch. 2:4he bent his bow *[Job 16:12]and set me

as a target for his arrow.

13 He drove into my kidneys

*Job 6:4;Ps. 38:2the arrows of his quiver;

14 *See Jer. 20:7I have become the laughingstock of all my people,*3:14 Some manuscripts all peoples

*ver. 63;Job 30:9;Ps. 69:12the object of their taunts all day long.

15 *[Isa. 51:17,21] He has filled me with bitterness;

he has sated me with *Jer. 9:15wormwood.

16 *[Prov. 20:17] He has made my teeth grind on gravel,

and *See Jer. 6:26made me cower in ashes;

17 my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness*3:17 Hebrew good is;

18 *[Ps. 9:18]so I say, "My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord."

19 *[ch. 1:9,11,20] Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

*[See ver. 15above] the wormwood and *ver. 5the gall!

20 My soul continually remembers it

*Ps. 42:6;44:25and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I call to mind,

and *[Ps. 42:5,11]therefore I have hope:

22 *[Mal. 3:6]The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;*3:22 Syriac, Targum; Hebrew Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, we are not cut off

*[Mal. 3:6]his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new *Job 7:18every morning;

*Ps. 36:5great is your faithfulness.

24 *Ps. 16:5;73:26"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

*[See ver. 21above]"therefore I will hope in him."

25 The Lord is good to those who *Ps. 130:6;[Isa. 30:18]wait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

26 *Ps. 130:5,7;Mic. 7:7It is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

27 *[Matt. 11:29] It is good for a man that he bear

the yoke *[Eccles. 12:1]in his youth.

28 Let him *ch. 1:1;2:10;Isa. 3:26sit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

29 *Job 42:6let him put his mouth in the dust—

there may yet be hope;

30 *Isa. 50:6;Matt. 5:39let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

31 *Ps. 103:9For the Lord will not

cast off forever,

32 for, though he *ch. 1:5cause grief, *Ps. 103:8he will have compassion

*Ps. 106:45according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

33 *[Heb. 12:6,10] for he does not afflict from his heart

or *[Heb. 12:11]grieve the children of men.

34 To crush underfoot

all *[Ps. 107:10]the prisoners of the earth,

35 *[Hab. 1:13]to deny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

*[See ver. 35above]the Lord does not approve.

37 *[Ps. 33:9]Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

38 *Isa. 45:7;Amos 3:6Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good and bad come?

39 *Prov. 19:3Why should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us test and examine our ways,

*Joel 2:12,13and return to the Lord!

41 *Ps. 25:1;119:48Let us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

42 *See Dan. 9:5"We have transgressed and *Ps. 78:17rebelled,

and you have not forgiven.

43 "You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,

*ch. 2:2,17,21killing without pity;

44 *ver. 8;[ch. 2:1]you have wrapped yourself with a cloud

so that no prayer can pass through.

45 *[1 Cor. 4:13]You have made us scum and garbage

among the peoples.

46 *ch. 2:16,17"All our enemies

open their mouths against us;

47 *Isa. 24:17;Jer. 48:43panic and pitfall have come upon us,

devastation and *Isa. 51:19destruction;

48 *ch. 1:16;See Jer. 13:17my eyes flow with rivers of tears

because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 *[See ver. 48above]"My eyes will flow without ceasing,

without respite,

50 *Ps. 14:2;Isa. 63:15until the Lord from heaven

looks down and sees;

51 my eyes cause me grief

at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

52 *ch. 4:18"I have been hunted *Ps. 11:1like a bird

by those who were my enemies *See Ps. 35:19without cause;

53 *Jer. 37:16;38:6,9,10they flung me alive into the pit*3:53 Or they end my life in the pit

*[Dan. 6:17]and cast stones on me;

54 *Ps. 69:2water closed over my head;

I said, *Ps. 88:5;[Ezek. 37:11]‘I am lost.’

55 *Ps. 130:1"I called on your name, O Lord,

from the depths of the pit;

56 *[Ps. 130:2]you heard my plea, ‘Do not close

your ear to my cry for help!’

57 *[James 4:8] You came near when I called on you;

you said, *See Josh. 1:9‘Do not fear!’

58 "You have *Ps. 119:154taken up my cause, *[1 Sam. 24:15]O Lord;

you have *Ps. 119:154redeemed my life.

59 You have seen the wrong done to me, *Ps. 35:22,23O Lord;

judge my cause.

60 You have seen all their vengeance,

all *See Jer. 11:19their plots against me.

61 *ch. 5:1"You have heard their taunts, O Lord,

all *[See ver. 60above]their plots against me.

62 The lips and thoughts *Ps. 18:39,48of my assailants

are against me all the day long.

63 *[Ps. 139:2] Behold their sitting and their rising;

*See ver. 14I am the object of their taunts.

64 *See Jer. 11:20"You will repay them,*3:64 Or Repay them O Lord,

*Ps. 28:4;[2 Tim. 4:14]according to the work of their hands.

65 You will give them*3:65 Or Give them dullness of heart;

your curse will be*3:65 Or place your curse on them.

66 You will pursue them*3:66 Or Pursue them in anger and *[Deut. 25:19;Jer. 10:11] destroy them

from under *Ps. 8:3your heavens, O Lord."*3:66 Syriac (compare Septuagint, Vulgate); Hebrew the heavens of the Lord