| The Webster Bible (WBT) | New International Version (NIV) |
| 1 I [am] the man [that] hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. | 1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. |
| 2 He hath led me, and brought [me into] darkness, but not [into] light. | 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; |
| 3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand [against me] all the day. | 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. |
| 4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. | 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. |
| 5 He hath built against me, and compassed [me] with gall and labor. | 5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. |
| 6 He hath set me in dark places, as [they that are] dead of old. | 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. |
| 7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. | 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. |
| 8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. | 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. |
| 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. | 9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. |
| 10 He [was] to me [as] a bear lying in wait, [and as] a lion in secret places. | 10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, |
| 11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. | 11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. |
| 12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. | 12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. |
| 13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. | 13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. |
| 14 I was a derision to all my people; [and] their song all the day. | 14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. |
| 15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. | 15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. |
| 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. | 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. |
| 17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. | 17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. |
| 18 And I said, My strength and my hope hath perished from the LORD: | 18 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." |
| 19 Remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. | 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. |
| 20 My soul hath [them] still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. | 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. |
| 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. | 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: |
| 22 [It is of] the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. | 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. |
| 23 [They are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness. | 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. |
| 24 The LORD [is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. | 24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." |
| 25 The LORD [is] good to them that wait for him, to the soul [that] seeketh him. | 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; |
| 26 [It is] good that [a man] should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. | 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. |
| 27 [It is] good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. | 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. |
| 28 He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne [it] upon him. | 28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him. |
| 29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if there may be hope. | 29 Let him bury his face in the dust-- there may yet be hope. |
| 30 He giveth [his] cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. | 30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. |
| 31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever: | 31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. |
| 32 But though he causeth grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. | 32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. |
| 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. | 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. |
| 34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, | 34 To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, |
| 35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, | 35 to deny a man his rights before the Most High, |
| 36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. | 36 to deprive a man of justice-- would not the Lord see such things? |
| 37 Who [is] he [that] saith, and it cometh to pass, [when] the Lord commandeth [it] not? | 37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? |
| 38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? | 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? |
| 39 Why doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? | 39 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? |
| 40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. | 40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. |
| 41 Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands to God in the heavens. | 41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: |
| 42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. | 42 "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. |
| 43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. | 43 "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. |
| 44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that [our] prayer should not pass through. | 44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. |
| 45 Thou hast made us [as] the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. | 45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. |
| 46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. | 46 "All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. |
| 47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. | 47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction." |
| 48 My eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. | 48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. |
| 49 My eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, | 49 My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, |
| 50 Till the LORD shall look down, and behold from heaven. | 50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. |
| 51 My eye affecteth my heart because of all the daughters of my city. | 51 What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city. |
| 52 My enemies chased me fiercely, like a bird without cause. | 52 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. |
| 53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. | 53 They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; |
| 54 Waters flowed over my head; [then] I said, I am cut off. | 54 the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off. |
| 55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. | 55 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. |
| 56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thy ear at my breathing, at my cry. | 56 You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief." |
| 57 Thou drewest near in the day [that] I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. | 57 You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear." |
| 58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. | 58 O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life. |
| 59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. | 59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! |
| 60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance [and] all their imaginations against me. | 60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. |
| 61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, [and] all their imaginations against me; | 61 O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me-- |
| 62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. | 62 what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. |
| 63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I [am] their music. | 63 Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. |
| 64 Render to them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. | 64 Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done. |
| 65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse to them. | 65 Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! |
| 66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD. | 66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD. |
| The Webster Bible is in the public domain. (The Webster Bible Online) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |