New Living Translation NLT
The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
1 I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD ’s anger.
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I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his fury,
2 He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light.
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He has led me and made me walk in darkness and not in light.
3 He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
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Against me alone he turns his hand again and again, all day.
4 He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones.
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He has worn away my skin and flesh, he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress.
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He has besieged and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead.
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He has made me live in darkness, like those who are long dead.
7 He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains.
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He has walled me in, so I can't escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
8 And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers.
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Even when I cry out, pleading for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked.
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He has barred my way with blocks of stone, he has made my paths crooked.
10 He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me.
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He lies in wait for me like a bear, like a lion in hiding.
11 He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated.
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He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces, leaving me stunned.
12 He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
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He has bent his bow and used me as a target for his arrows.
13 He shot his arrows deep into my heart.
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He has pierced my vital organs with shafts from his quiver.
14 My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs.
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I'm a laughingstock to all my people, the butt of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.
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He has filled me with bitterness, sated me with wormwood.
16 He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust.
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He has broken my teeth with gravel and pressed me down into ashes.
17 Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
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I have been so deprived of peace, I have so forgotten what happiness is,
18 I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!”
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that I think, "My strength is gone, and so is my hope in ADONAI."
19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.
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Remember my utter misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.
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They are always on my mind; this is why I am so depressed.
21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:
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But in my mind I keep returning to something, something that gives me hope -
22 The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease.
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that the grace of ADONAI is not exhausted, that his compassion has not ended.
23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
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[On the contrary,] they are new every morning! How great your faithfulness!
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
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"ADONAI is all I have," I say; "therefore I will put my hope in him.
25 The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
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ADONAI is good to those waiting for him, to those who are seeking him out.
26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD .
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It is good to wait patiently for the saving help of ADONAI.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline:
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It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth.
28 Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD ’s demands.
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Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him.
29 Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.
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Let him submit absolutely; there may yet be hope.
30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.
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Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it, and receive his fill of insults.
31 For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.
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For rejection by Adonai does not last forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
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He may cause grief, but he will take pity, in keeping with the greatness of his grace.
33 For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.
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For he does not arbitrarily torment or punish human beings.
34 If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
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When anyone tramples underfoot any of the prisoners of the land;
35 if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High,
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when anyone deprives a person of justice, in defiance of the Most High;
36 if they twist justice in the courts— doesn’t the Lord see all these things?
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when someone is cheated of justice in court -does Adonai not take note of such things?
37 Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission?
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Who can say something and have it happen without Adonai's commanding it?
38 Does not the Most High send both calamity and good?
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Don't both bad things and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?
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Why should anyone alive complain, even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?
40 Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD .
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Let us examine and test our ways and return to ADONAI.
41 Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say,
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Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven and say,
42 “We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us.
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"We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled; you, for your part, have not forgiven.
43 “You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy.
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"You have covered us with anger, pursued and slaughtered us without pity.
44 You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you.
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You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations.
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You have reduced us to rubbish and filth among the peoples.
46 “All our enemies have spoken out against us.
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"All our adversaries open their mouths to jeer at us.
47 We are filled with fear, for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.”
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Panic and pitfall have come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people!
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My eyes stream with rivers of water over the destruction of the daughter of my people."
49 My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop
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My eyes weep ceaselessly; there is no respite,
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
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until ADONAI looks down and sees from heaven.
51 My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.
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My eyes make me so upset at the fate of the women in my city.
52 My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird.
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Those who are my enemies for no reason hunted me down like a bird.
53 They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me.
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They forced me alive into a pit and threw stones on me.
54 The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!”
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Water rose above my head; I thought, "I am finished!"
55 But I called on your name, LORD, from deep within the pit.
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I called on your name, ADONAI, from the bottom of the pit.
56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!”
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You heard my voice; don't close your ear at my sighs, at my cries.
57 Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.”
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You came near when I called to you; you said, "Don't be afraid."
58 Lord, you are my lawyer! Plead my case! For you have redeemed my life.
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Adonai, you defended my cause; you redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD . Be my judge, and prove me right.
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ADONAI, you see how I have been wronged; give judgment in my favor!
60 You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me.
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You have seen all their vindictiveness and all their plots against me.
61 LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me. You know all about the plans they have made.
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You have heard their taunts, ADONAI, and all their plots against me,
62 My enemies whisper and mutter as they plot against me all day long.
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the whispered murmurings of my foes against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs.
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See how, whether they sit or stand, I am the butt of their taunts.
64 Pay them back, LORD, for all the evil they have done.
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Repay them, ADONAI, as their deeds deserve.
65 Give them hard and stubborn hearts, and then let your curse fall on them!
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Give them hardheartedness as your curse on them.
66 Chase them down in your anger, destroying them beneath the LORD ’s heavens.
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Pursue them in anger! Destroy them from under your heavens!
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.