| Berean Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath. | 1I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD’s anger. |
| 2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light. | 2He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. |
| 3Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long. | 3He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. |
| 4He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered 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 hardship. | 5He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. |
| 6He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages. | 6He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. |
| 7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains. | 7He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. |
| 8Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer. | 8And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. |
| 9He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked. | 9He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked. |
| 10He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush. | 10He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. |
| 11He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help. | 11He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. |
| 12He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow. | 12He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. |
| 13He pierced my kidneys with His arrows. | 13He shot his arrows deep into my heart. |
| 14I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long. | 14My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. |
| 15He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood. | 15He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. |
| 16He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust. | 16He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. |
| 17My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. | 17Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. |
| 18So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.” | 18I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!” |
| 19Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall. | 19The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. |
| 20Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me. | 20I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. |
| 21Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: | 21Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: |
| 22Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. | 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 will 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 to 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 while he is still young. | 27And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline: |
| 28Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him. | 28Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD’s demands. |
| 29Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope. | 29Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. |
| 30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with 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 us off forever. | 31For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. |
| 32Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion. | 32Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. |
| 33For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men. | 33For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow. |
| 34To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land, | 34If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land, |
| 35to deny a man justice before the Most High, | 35if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High, |
| 36to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve. | 36if they twist justice in the courts— doesn’t the Lord see all these things? |
| 37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? | 37Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? |
| 38Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High? | 38Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? |
| 39Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins? | 39Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins? |
| 40Let us examine and test 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 up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: | 41Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, |
| 42“We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.” | 42“We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us. |
| 43You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity. | 43“You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy. |
| 44You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through. | 44You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you. |
| 45You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. | 45You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations. |
| 46All our enemies open their mouths against us. | 46“All our enemies have spoken out against us. |
| 47Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction. | 47We are filled with fear, for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.” |
| 48Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people. | 48Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people! |
| 49My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief, | 49My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop |
| 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. | 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. |
| 51My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city. | 51My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem. |
| 52Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird. | 52My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird. |
| 53They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me. | 53They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. |
| 54The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die. | 54The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!” |
| 55I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit. | 55But I called on your name, LORD, from deep within the pit. |
| 56You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.” | 56You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!” |
| 57You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.” | 57Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.” |
| 58You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life. | 58Lord, you have come to my defense; you have redeemed my life. |
| 59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause! | 59You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD. Be my judge, and prove me right. |
| 60You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me. | 60You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me. |
| 61O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me— | 61LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me. You know all about the plans they have made. |
| 62the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long. | 62My enemies whisper and mutter as they plot against me all day long. |
| 63When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song. | 63Look at them! Whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs. |
| 64You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. | 64Pay them back, LORD, for all the evil they have done. |
| 65Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them! | 65Give them hard and stubborn hearts, and then let your curse fall on them! |
| 66You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD. | 66Chase them down in your anger, destroying them beneath the LORD’s heavens. |
| This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain. | 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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