New Living Translation NLT
New International Version NIV
37 Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission?
37
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
38 Does not the Most High send both calamity and good?
38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
39 Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?
39
Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?
40 Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD .
40
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
41 Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say,
41
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.
42
“We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy.
43
“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.
44 You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you.
44
You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
45 You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations.
45
You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have spoken out against us.
46
“All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.
47 We are filled with fear, for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.”
47
We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.”
48 Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people!
48
Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
49 My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop
49
My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
50
until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51 My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.
51
What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.
52 My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird.
52
Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.
53 They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me.
53
They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;
54 The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!”
54
the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.
55 But I called on your name, LORD, from deep within the pit.
55
I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!”
56
You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”
57 Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.”
57
You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”
58 Lord, you are my lawyer! Plead my case! For you have redeemed my life.
58
You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD . Be my judge, and prove me right.
59
LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!
60 You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me.
60
You have seen the depth of their vengeance, 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.
61
LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62 My enemies whisper and mutter as they plot against me all day long.
62
what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs.
63
Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.
64 Pay them back, LORD, for all the evil they have done.
64
Pay them back what they deserve, LORD, for what their hands have done.
65 Give them hard and stubborn hearts, and then let your curse fall on them!
65
Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!
66 Chase them down in your anger, destroying them beneath the LORD ’s heavens.
66
Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
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.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.