Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 I am someone who saw the suffering caused by God's angry rod.
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I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
2 He drove me away, forced me to walk in darkness, not light.
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he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3 He turned his hand even against me, over and over again, all day long.
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surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
4 He wore out my flesh and my skin; he broke my bones.
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He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones;
5 He besieged me, surrounding me with bitterness and weariness.
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he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
6 He made me live in dark places like those who've been dead a long time.
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he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
7 He walled me in so I couldn't escape; he made my chains heavy.
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He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;
8 Even though I call out and cry for help, he silences my prayer.
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though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
9 He walled in my paths with stonework; he made my routes crooked.
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he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lurking for me, a lion in hiding.
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He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
11 He took me from my path and tore me apart; he made me desolate.
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he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
12 He drew back his bow, made me a shooting target for arrows.
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he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
13 He shot the arrows of his quiver into my inside parts.
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He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver;
14 I have become a joke to all my people, the object of their song of ridicule all day long.
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I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long.
15 He saturated me with grief, made me choke on bitterness.
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He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.
16 He crushed my teeth into the gravel; he pressed me down into the ashes.
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He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
17 I've rejected peace; I've forgotten what is good.
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my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 I thought: My future is gone, as well as my hope from the LORD.
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so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD."
19 The memory of my suffering and homelessness is bitterness and poison.
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Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!
20 I can't help but remember and am depressed.
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My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
21 I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait.
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But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 Certainly the faithful love of the LORD hasn't ended; certainly God's compassion isn't through!
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The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
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they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I think: The LORD is my portion! Therefore, I'll wait for him.
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"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
25 The LORD is good to those who hope in him, to the person who seeks him.
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The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It's good to wait in silence for the LORD's deliverance.
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It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It's good for a man to carry a yoke in his youth.
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It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 He should sit alone and be silent when God lays it on him.
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Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
29 He should put his mouth in the dirt—perhaps there is hope.
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let him put his mouth in the dust-- there may yet be hope;
30 He should offer his cheek for a blow; he should be filled with shame.
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let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.
31 My Lord definitely won't reject forever.
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For the Lord will not cast off forever,
32 Although he has caused grief, he will show compassion in measure with his covenant loyalty.
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but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 He definitely doesn't enjoy affliction, making humans suffer.
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for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.
34 Now crushing underfoot all the earth's prisoners,
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To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 denying someone justice before the Most High,
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to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,
36 subverting a person's lawsuit—doesn't my Lord see all this?
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to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.
37 Who ever spoke and it happened if my Lord hadn't commanded the same?
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Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 From the mouth of the Most High evil things don't come, but rather good!
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Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
39 Why then does any living person complain; why should anyone complain about their sins?
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Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40 We must search and examine our ways; we must return to the LORD.
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Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!
41 We should lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
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Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 We are the ones who did wrong; we rebelled. But you, God, have not forgiven.
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"We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
43 You wrapped yourself up in wrath and hunted us; you killed, showing no compassion.
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"You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;
44 You wrapped yourself up in a cloud; prayers can't make it through!
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you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You made us trash and garbage in front of all other people.
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You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
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"All our enemies open their mouths against us;
47 Terror and trap have come upon us, catastrophe and collapse!
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panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction;
48 Streams of water pour from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
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my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow and don't stop. There is no relief
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"My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,
50 until the LORD looks down from the heavens and notices.
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until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees;
51 My eyes hurt me because of what's happened to my city's daughters.
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my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies hunted me down like a bird, relentlessly, for no reason.
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"I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;
53 They caught me alive in a pit and threw stones at me;
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they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;
54 water flowed over my head. I thought: I'm finished.
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water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost.'
55 I call on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit.
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"I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;
56 Hear my voice. Don't close your ear to my need for relief, to my cry for help.
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you heard my plea, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help!'
57 Come near to me on the day I call to you. Say to me, "Don't be afraid."
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You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!'
58 My Lord! Plead my desperate case; redeem my life.
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"You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.
59 LORD, look at my mistreatment; judge my cause.
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You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.
60 Look at all of my enemies' vengeance, all of their scheming against me.
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You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
61 Hear their jeering, LORD, all of their scheming against me,
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"You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me.
62 the speech of those who rise up against me, their incessant gossiping about me.
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The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.
63 Whether sitting or standing, look at how I am the object of their song of ridicule.
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Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.
64 Pay them back fully, LORD, according to what they have done.
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"You will repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them a tortured mind—put your curse on them!
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You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.
66 Angrily hunt them down; wipe them out from under the LORD's heaven.
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You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O LORD."
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.