Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
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I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath;
2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
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he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
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against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.
4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
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He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall, and labour.
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he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
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he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.
7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
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He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
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though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.
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he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
10 Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.
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He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
11 Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
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he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
12 Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.
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he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.
13 He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
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He shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver;
14 He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.
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I have become the laughingstock of all my people, the object of their taunt-songs all day long.
15 He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.
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He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
16 Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.
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He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
17 Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
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my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
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so I say, "Gone is my glory, and all that I had hoped for from the Lord."
19 Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
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The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
20 Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.
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My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
21 Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.
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But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.
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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
23 Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
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they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.
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"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
25 Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
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The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
26 Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
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It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
27 Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.
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It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth,
28 Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
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to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it,
29 Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
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to put one's mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope),
30 Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.
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to give one's cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
31 Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
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For the Lord will not reject forever.
32 Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.
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Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.
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for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
34 Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
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When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot,
35 Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,
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when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High,
36 Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.
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when one's case is subverted —does the Lord not see it?
37 Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?
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Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it?
38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?
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Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
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Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins?
40 Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
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Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.
41 Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.
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Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.
42 Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.
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We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
43 Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
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You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;
44 Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.
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you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
45 Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.
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You have made us filth and rubbish among the peoples.
46 Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
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All our enemies have opened their mouths against us;
47 Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
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panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
48 Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
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My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of my people.
49 Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:
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My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,
50 Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
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until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees.
51 Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
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My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the young women in my city.
52 Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.
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Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird;
53 Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.
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they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me;
54 Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.
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water closed over my head; I said, "I am lost."
55 Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
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I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit;
56 Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
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you heard my plea, "Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!"
57 Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
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You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!"
58 Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.
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You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life.
59 Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.
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You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.
60 Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.
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You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61 Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.
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You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
62 Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.
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The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long.
63 Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.
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Whether they sit or rise—see, I am the object of their taunt-songs.
64 Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
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Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord, according to the work of their hands!
65 Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
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Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them!
66 Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.
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Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the Lord's heavens.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.
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.