| English Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; | 1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD's wrath. |
| 2he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; | 2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; |
| 3surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. | 3indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. |
| 4He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; | 4He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. |
| 5he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; | 5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. |
| 6he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. | 6He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. |
| 7He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; | 7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. |
| 8though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; | 8Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. |
| 9he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. | 9He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. |
| 10He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; | 10Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, |
| 11he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; | 11he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. |
| 12he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. | 12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. |
| 13He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; | 13He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. |
| 14I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. | 14I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. |
| 15He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. | 15He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink. |
| 16He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; | 16He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. |
| 17my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; | 17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. |
| 18so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” | 18So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." |
| 19Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! | 19I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. |
| 20My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. | 20I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. |
| 21But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: | 21Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: |
| 22The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; | 22Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. |
| 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. | 23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. |
| 24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” | 24I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." |
| 25The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. | 25The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; |
| 26It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. | 26it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. |
| 27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. | 27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. |
| 28Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; | 28Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him. |
| 29let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; | 29Let him bury his face in the dust-- there may yet be hope. |
| 30let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. | 30Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. |
| 31For the Lord will not cast off forever, | 31For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. |
| 32but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; | 32Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. |
| 33for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. | 33For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. |
| 34To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, | 34To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, |
| 35to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, | 35to deny people their rights before the Most High, |
| 36to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve. | 36to deprive them of justice-- would not the Lord see such things? |
| 37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? | 37Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? |
| 38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? | 38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? |
| 39Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? | 39Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? |
| 40Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! | 40Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. |
| 41Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: | 41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: |
| 42“We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. | 42"We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. |
| 43“You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity; | 43"You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. |
| 44you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. | 44You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. |
| 45You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples. | 45You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. |
| 46“All our enemies open their mouths against us; | 46"All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. |
| 47panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; | 47We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction." |
| 48my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. | 48Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. |
| 49“My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, | 49My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, |
| 50until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees; | 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. |
| 51my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city. | 51What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city. |
| 52“I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; | 52Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. |
| 53they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; | 53They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; |
| 54water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’ | 54the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish. |
| 55“I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; | 55I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit. |
| 56you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ | 56You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief." |
| 57You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ | 57You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear." |
| 58“You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. | 58You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. |
| 59You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause. | 59LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! |
| 60You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. | 60You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. |
| 61“You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me. | 61LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me-- |
| 62The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long. | 62what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. |
| 63Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts. | 63Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. |
| 64“You will repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. | 64Pay them back what they deserve, LORD, for what their hands have done. |
| 65You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them. | 65Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! |
| 66You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O LORD.” | 66Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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