The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
King James Version KJV
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his fury,
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I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk in darkness and not in light.
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He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Against me alone he turns his hand again and again, all day.
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Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 He has worn away my skin and flesh, he has broken my bones.
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My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
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He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He has made me live in darkness, like those who are long dead.
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He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He has walled me in, so I can't escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
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He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out, pleading for help, he shuts out my prayer.
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Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone, he has made my paths crooked.
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He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 He lies in wait for me like a bear, like a lion in hiding.
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He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces, leaving me stunned.
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He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He has bent his bow and used me as a target for his arrows.
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He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He has pierced my vital organs with shafts from his quiver.
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He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I'm a laughingstock to all my people, the butt of their taunts all day long.
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I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, sated me with wormwood.
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He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel and pressed me down into ashes.
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He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 I have been so deprived of peace, I have so forgotten what happiness is,
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And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18 that I think, "My strength is gone, and so is my hope in ADONAI."
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And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
19 Remember my utter misery, the wormwood and the gall.
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Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 They are always on my mind; this is why I am so depressed.
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My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 But in my mind I keep returning to something, something that gives me hope -
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This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 that the grace of ADONAI is not exhausted, that his compassion has not ended.
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It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning! How great your faithfulness!
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They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 "ADONAI is all I have," I say; "therefore I will put my hope in him.
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The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 ADONAI is good to those waiting for him, to those who are seeking him out.
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The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good to wait patiently for the saving help of ADONAI.
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It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth.
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It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him.
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He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 Let him submit absolutely; there may yet be hope.
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He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it, and receive his fill of insults.
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He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For rejection by Adonai does not last forever.
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For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 He may cause grief, but he will take pity, in keeping with the greatness of his grace.
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But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he does not arbitrarily torment or punish human beings.
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For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 When anyone tramples underfoot any of the prisoners of the land;
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To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 when anyone deprives a person of justice, in defiance of the Most High;
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To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 when someone is cheated of justice in court -does Adonai not take note of such things?
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To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 Who can say something and have it happen without Adonai's commanding it?
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Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Don't both bad things and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
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Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Why should anyone alive complain, even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?
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Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us examine and test our ways and return to ADONAI.
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Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven and say,
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Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 "We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled; you, for your part, have not forgiven.
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We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43 "You have covered us with anger, pursued and slaughtered us without pity.
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Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick that no prayer can pass through.
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Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 You have reduced us to rubbish and filth among the peoples.
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Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 "All our adversaries open their mouths to jeer at us.
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All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us, desolation and destruction.
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Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes stream with rivers of water over the destruction of the daughter of my people."
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Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes weep ceaselessly; there is no respite,
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Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 until ADONAI looks down and sees from heaven.
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Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
51 My eyes make me so upset at the fate of the women in my city.
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Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Those who are my enemies for no reason hunted me down like a bird.
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Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They forced me alive into a pit and threw stones on me.
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They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Water rose above my head; I thought, "I am finished!"
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Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called on your name, ADONAI, from the bottom of the pit.
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I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 You heard my voice; don't close your ear at my sighs, at my cries.
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Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 You came near when I called to you; you said, "Don't be afraid."
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Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 Adonai, you defended my cause; you redeemed my life.
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O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59 ADONAI, you see how I have been wronged; give judgment in my favor!
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O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60 You have seen all their vindictiveness and all their plots against me.
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Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 You have heard their taunts, ADONAI, and all their plots against me,
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Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
62 the whispered murmurings of my foes against me all day long.
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The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 See how, whether they sit or stand, I am the butt of their taunts.
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Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64 Repay them, ADONAI, as their deeds deserve.
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Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them hardheartedness as your curse on them.
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Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66 Pursue them in anger! Destroy them from under your heavens!
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Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The King James Version is in the public domain.