NET Bible | New Living Translation |
1I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of his wrath. | 1I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD’s anger. |
2He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light. | 2He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. |
3He repeatedly attacks me, he turns his hand against me all day long. | 3He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. |
4He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones. | 4He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. |
5He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship. | 5He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. |
6He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago. | 6He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. |
7He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains. | 7He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. |
8Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer. | 8And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. |
9He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable. | 9He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked. |
10To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey. | 10He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. |
11He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate. | 11He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. |
12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow. | 12He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. |
13He shot his arrows into my heart. | 13He shot his arrows deep into my heart. |
14I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long. | 14My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. |
15He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness. | 15He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. |
16He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust. | 16He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. |
17I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. | 17Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. |
18So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the LORD." | 18I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!” |
19Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison. | 19The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. |
20I continually think about this, and I am depressed. | 20I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. |
21But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope: | 21Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: |
22The LORD's loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end. | 22The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. |
23They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant! | 23Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. |
24"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my 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 trust in him, to the one who seeks him. | 25The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. |
26It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from 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 young. | 27And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline: |
28Let a person sit alone in silence, when the LORD is disciplining him. | 28Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD’s demands. |
29Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is 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 hits him; let him have his fill of insults. | 30Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies. |
31For the Lord will not reject us forever. | 31For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. |
32Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. | 32Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. |
33For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people. | 33For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow. |
34To crush underfoot all the earth's prisoners, | 34If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land, |
35to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High, | 35if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High, |
36to defraud a person in a lawsuit--the Lord does not approve of such things! | 36if they twist justice in the courts— doesn’t the Lord see all these things? |
37Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it? | 37Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? |
38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes--both calamity and blessing? | 38Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? |
39Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? | 39Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins? |
40Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return 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 our hands to God in heaven: | 41Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, |
42"We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven." | 42“We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us. |
43You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy. | 43“You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy. |
44You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. | 44You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you. |
45You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations. | 45You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations. |
46All our enemies have gloated over 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 because my people are destroyed. | 48Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people! |
49Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break | 49My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop |
50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees what has happened. | 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. |
51What my eyes see grieves me--all the suffering of the daughters in my city. | 51My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem. |
52For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird. | 52My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird. |
53They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me. | 53They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. |
54The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die. | 54The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!” |
55I have called on your name, O LORD, from the deepest pit. | 55But I called on your name, LORD, from deep within the pit. |
56You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!" | 56You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!” |
57You came near on the day I called to you; you said, "Do not fear!" | 57Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.” |
58O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life. | 58Lord, you have come to my defense; you have redeemed my life. |
59You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; pronounce judgment on my behalf! | 59You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD. Be my judge, and prove me right. |
60You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. | 60You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me. |
61You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me. | 61LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me. You know all about the plans they have made. |
62My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long. | 62My enemies whisper and mutter as they plot against me all day long. |
63Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs. | 63Look at them! Whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs. |
64Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to what they have done. | 64Pay them back, LORD, for all the evil they have done. |
65Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them! | 65Give them hard and stubborn hearts, and then let your curse fall on them! |
66Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the LORD's heaven. | 66Chase them down in your anger, destroying them beneath the LORD’s heavens. |
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