New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath;
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I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.
2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
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By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.
3 against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.
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Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
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My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.
5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
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He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.
6 he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.
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He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
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He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.
8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
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Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.
9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
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He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
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He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.
11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
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By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.
12 he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.
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With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.
13 He shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver;
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He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.
14 I have become the laughingstock of all my people, the object of their taunt-songs all day long.
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I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
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He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
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By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.
17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;
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My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.
18 so I say, "Gone is my glory, and all that I had hoped for from the Lord."
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And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.
19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
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Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.
20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
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My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
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This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
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It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
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They are new every morning; great is your good faith.
24 "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
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I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
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The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
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It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth,
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It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.
28 to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it,
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Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.
29 to put one's mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope),
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Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.
30 to give one's cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
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Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.
31 For the Lord will not reject forever.
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For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.
32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
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For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.
33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
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For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
34 When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot,
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In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High,
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In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.
36 when one's case is subverted —does the Lord not see it?
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In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.
37 Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it?
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Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
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Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins?
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What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?
40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.
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Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;
41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.
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Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
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We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.
43 You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;
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Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;
44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
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Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.
45 You have made us filth and rubbish among the peoples.
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You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us;
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The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
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Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.
48 My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of my people.
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Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,
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My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,
50 until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees.
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Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.
51 My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the young women in my city.
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The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird;
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They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;
53 they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me;
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They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.
54 water closed over my head; I said, "I am lost."
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Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.
55 I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit;
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I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.
56 you heard my plea, "Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!"
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My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.
57 You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!"
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You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.
58 You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life.
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O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.
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O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
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You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.
61 You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
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Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;
62 The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long.
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The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.
63 Whether they sit or rise—see, I am the object of their taunt-songs.
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Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.
64 Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord, according to the work of their hands!
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You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.
65 Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them!
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You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the Lord's heavens.
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You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.