1 I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness,
and not in light.
3 Surely he turns his hand against me
again and again all day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin old.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has built against me,
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in dark places,
as those who have been long dead.
7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out.
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone.
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait,
as a lion in hiding.
11 He has turned away my path,
and pulled me in pieces.
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent his bow,
and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14 I have become a derision to all my people,
and their song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness.
He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel.
He has covered me with ashes.
17 You have removed my soul far away from peace.
I forgot prosperity.
18 I said, "My strength has perished,
along with my expectation from Yahweh."
19 Remember my affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the bitterness.
20 My soul still remembers them,
and is bowed down within me.
21 This I recall to my mind;
therefore I have hope.
22 It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed,
because his mercies don’t fail.
23 They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
24 "Yahweh is my portion," says my soul.
"Therefore I will hope in him."
25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that a man should hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and keep silence,
because he has laid it on him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust,
if it is so that there may be hope.
30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him.
Let him be filled full of reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 For though he causes grief,
yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33 For he does not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass,
when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38 Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways,
and turn again to Yahweh.
41 Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 "We have transgressed and have rebelled.
You have not pardoned.
43 "You have covered us with anger and pursued us.
You have killed.
You have not pitied.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud,
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse
in the middle of the peoples.
46 "All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47 Terror and the pit have come on us,
devastation and destruction."
48 My eye runs down with streams of water,
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eye pours down
and doesn’t cease,
without any intermission,
50 until Yahweh looks down,
and sees from heaven.
51 My eye affects my soul,
because of all the daughters of my city.
52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird,
those who are my enemies without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon,
and have cast a stone on me.
54 Waters flowed over my head.
I said, "I am cut off."
55 I called on your name, Yahweh,
out of the lowest dungeon.
56 You heard my voice:
"Don’t hide your ear from my sighing,
and my cry."
57 You came near in the day that I called on you.
You said, "Don’t be afraid."
58 Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul.
You have redeemed my life.
59 Yahweh, you have seen my wrong.
Judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance
and all their plans against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, Yahweh,
and all their plans against me,
62 the lips of those that rose up against me,
and their plots against me all day long.
63 You see their sitting down and their rising up.
I am their song.
64 You will pay them back, Yahweh,
according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them hardness of heart,
your curse to them.
66 You will pursue them in anger,
and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.
1 [Aleph] I [am] a man [that] sees affliction in the rod of his wrath.
2 [Aleph] He has led me and brought [me into] darkness, but not [into] light.
3 [Aleph] Surely he is turned against me; he turns his hand [against me] all the day.
4 [Beth] My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones.
5 [Beth] He has built against me and compassed [me] with gall and travail.
6 [Beth] He has set me in dark places as [those that are] dead for ever.
7 [Gimel] He has hedged me about that I cannot get out; he has made my chain heavy.
8 [Gimel] Even when I cried and shouted, he shut out my prayer.
9 [Gimel] He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; he has made my paths crooked.
10 [Daleth] He [was] unto me [as] a bear lying in wait [and as] a lion in secret places.
11 [Daleth] He has made my ways crooked and pulled me in pieces; he has made me desolate.
12 [Daleth] He has bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 [He] He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14 [He] I was a derision to all my people [and] their song every day.
15 [He] He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunk with wormwood.
16 [Vau] He has broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes.
17 [Vau] My soul removed itself far from peace; I forgot about good.
18 [Vau] And I said, My strength and my hope of the LORD is perished.
19 [Zain] Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 [Zain] My soul shall have [them] still in remembrance because it is humbled in me.
21 [Zain] This shall go down into my heart; therefore I shall wait.
22 [Chet] It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed because his mercies never diminish.
23 [Chet They are] new every morning; great [is] thy faith.
24 [Chet] The LORD [is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore I will wait for him.
25 [Teth] The LORD [is] good unto those that wait in him, to the soul [that] seeks him.
26 [Teth] [It is] good to wait quietly in the salvation of the LORD.
27 [Teth] [It is] good for the man if he bears the yoke from his youth.
28 [Jod] He shall sit alone and keep silence because he has borne [it] upon him.
29 [Jod] He shall put his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 [Jod] He shall turn [his] cheek unto him that smites him; he shall be filled with reproach.
31 [Caph] For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 [Caph] But though he causes grief, yet he will also have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 [Caph] For he does not afflict nor grieve the sons of men from his heart.
34 [Lamed] To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 [Lamed] To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 [Lamed] To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.
37 [Mem] Who shall he be that saith that something comes which the Lord has not sent?
38 [Mem] Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?
39 [Mem] Why does the living man have pain, the man in his sins?
40 [Nun] Let us search out our ways, and seek, and turn again to the LORD.
41 [Nun] Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands unto God in the heavens.
42 [Nun] We have rebelled and been disloyal; therefore thou hast not forgiven.
43 [Samech] Thou hast unfurled anger and persecuted us; thou hast slain, thou hast not forgiven.
44 [Samech] Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud that [our] prayer should not pass through.
45 [Samech] Thou hast made us [as] the offscouring and abomination in the midst of the peoples.
46 [Pe] All our enemies have opened their mouths upon us.
47 [Pe] Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 [Pe] My eyes stream with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 [Ain] My eyes run down, and cease not, for there is no relief,
50 [Ain] Until the LORD looks down, and beholds from the heavens.
51 [Ain] My eyes make my soul sad because of all the daughters of my city.
52 [Tzaddi] My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause.
53 [Tzaddi] They bound up my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 [Tzaddi] Waters flowed over my head; [then] I said, I am dead.
55 [Koph] I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 [Koph] Thou hast heard my voice; do not hide thine ear at my cry that I might breath.
57 [Koph] Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou didst say, Fear not.
58 [Resh] O Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59 [Resh] O LORD, thou hast seen where I was wrong; plead thou my cause.
60 [Resh] Thou hast seen all their vengeance [and] all their imaginations against me.
61 [Schin] Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, [and] all their imaginations against me;
62 [Schin] The words of those that rose up against me, and their design against me all the day.
63 [Schin] Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I [am] their music.
64 [Tau] Render unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 [Tau] Give them sorrow of heart; thy curse unto them.
66 [Tau] Persecute them in thy anger and cut them off from under the heavens, oh LORD.: