| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1I am a man familiar with affliction— under the rod of God's anger. | 1I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of his wrath. |
| 2He has led me—brought me into darkness, not into light. | 2He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light. |
| 3He truly turned his hand against me, again and again, all day long. | 3He repeatedly attacks me, he turns his hand against me all day long. |
| 4He made my flesh and skin prematurely old; he broke my bones. | 4He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones. |
| 5He laid siege against me, surrounding me with bitterness and suffering. | 5He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship. |
| 6He has forced me to live in darkness, like those who are long dead. | 6He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago. |
| 7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he placed heavy chains on me. | 7He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains. |
| 8Indeed, when I cry out, calling for help, he shuts out my prayer. | 8Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer. |
| 9He impeded my way with blocks of stone, making my paths uneven. | 9He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable. |
| 10He is like a bear that lies in wait for me, a lion in hiding. | 10To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey. |
| 11He forced me off my path, tearing me to pieces and making me desolate. | 11He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate. |
| 12He bent his bow, aiming at me with his arrow. | 12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow. |
| 13He caused his war arrows to pierce my vital organs. | 13He shot his arrows into my heart. |
| 14I have become a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunts throughout the day. | 14I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long. |
| 15He has filled me with bitterness, making me drink wormwood. | 15He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness. |
| 16He broke my teeth on gravel, covering me with dust. | 16He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust. |
| 17You have removed peace from my life; I have forgotten what prosperity is. | 17I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. |
| 18So I say, "My strength is gone as is my hope in the LORD." | 18So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the LORD." |
| 19Remember my affliction and homelessness— wormwood and gall! | 19Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison. |
| 20My mind keeps reflecting on it, and I become depressed. | 20I continually think about this, and I am depressed. |
| 21This is what comes to mind, and therefore I have hope: | 21But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope: |
| 22Because of the LORD's gracious love we are not consumed, since his compassions never end. | 22The LORD's loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end. |
| 23They are new every morning— great is your faithfulness! | 23They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant! |
| 24"The LORD is all I have," says my soul, "Therefore I will trust in him." | 24"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him. |
| 25The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who searches for him. | 25The LORD is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him. |
| 26It is good to hope and wait patiently for the LORD's salvation. | 26It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the LORD. |
| 27It is good when a young man carries the yoke of discipline in his youth. | 27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. |
| 28He is to sit apart and remain silent, because the LORD has laid it upon him. | 28Let a person sit alone in silence, when the LORD is disciplining him. |
| 29Let him fall face down in the dust, so there may yet be hope. | 29Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope. |
| 30He will endure being slapped in the face, bringing him public disgrace. | 30Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults. |
| 31Indeed, the Lord will not always reject us — | 31For the Lord will not reject us forever. |
| 32though he causes grief, his compassion abounds according to his gracious love. | 32Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. |
| 33For he does not deliberately hurt or grieve human beings. | 33For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people. |
| 34When any of the prisoners of the earth are crushed underfoot, | 34To crush underfoot all the earth's prisoners, |
| 35when a person's rights are perverted in defiance of the Most High. | 35to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High, |
| 36When a man is thwarted in his appeal, does the Lord condone it? | 36to defraud a person in a lawsuit--the Lord does not approve of such things! |
| 37Who can command, and it happens, without the Lord having ordered it? | 37Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it? |
| 38Do not both good and evil things proceed from the mouth of the Most High? | 38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes--both calamity and blessing? |
| 39Why should anyone living complain, any mortal, about being punished for sin? | 39Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? |
| 40Let us examine our lifestyles, putting them to the test, and turn back to the LORD. | 40Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the LORD. |
| 41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven. | 41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: |
| 42As for us, we have sinned and rebelled; but you have not pardoned us. | 42"We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven." |
| 43Clothing yourself with anger, you pursued us. You killed without pity, | 43You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy. |
| 44You covered yourself with a cloud that prayer cannot pierce. | 44You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. |
| 45You have reduced us to scum and garbage among the nations. | 45You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations. |
| 46All our enemies jeer at us with gaping mouths. | 46All our enemies have gloated over us; |
| 47Panic and pitfalls beset us, along with devastation and ruin. | 47Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction. |
| 48My eyes run with rivers of tears over the destruction of my cherished people. | 48Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. |
| 49My tears pour down ceaselessly; I am far from relief | 49Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break |
| 50until the LORD bends down to see from heaven. | 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees what has happened. |
| 51What I see grieves my soul because of all the young women of my city. | 51What my eyes see grieves me--all the suffering of the daughters in my city. |
| 52My enemies hunted me like a bird, viciously and without justification. | 52For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird. |
| 53They dumped me alive into a pit, sealing me in with stone. | 53They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me. |
| 54Water closed over my head, and I said, "I'm a dead man." | 54The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die. |
| 55I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the Pit, | 55I have called on your name, O LORD, from the deepest pit. |
| 56You heard my voice— don't close your ear to my sighs and cries. | 56You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!" |
| 57You drew near when I called out to you. You said, "Stop being afraid" | 57You came near on the day I called to you; you said, "Do not fear!" |
| 58Lord, you have defended my cause; you have redeemed my life. | 58O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life. |
| 59LORD, you observed how I have been wronged; now make your ruling in my case. | 59You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; pronounce judgment on my behalf! |
| 60You examined their plans for vengeance, all of their plots against me. | 60You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. |
| 61LORD, you listened to their insults— all their plots against me, | 61You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me. |
| 62the whisperings of my opponents, their scheming against me all day long. | 62My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long. |
| 63Watch! Whether they sit down or stand up, they mock me with their songs. | 63Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs. |
| 64Pay them back, LORD, according to their actions. | 64Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to what they have done. |
| 65Give them an anguished heart; may your curse be upon them! | 65Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them! |
| 66Pursue them in your anger and destroy them from under the LORD's heaven. | 66Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the LORD's heaven. |
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