International Standard Version

King James Bible

1I am a man familiar with affliction— under the rod of God's anger.

1I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

2He has led me—brought me into darkness, not into light.

2He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

3He truly turned his hand against me, again and again, all day long.

3Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.

4He made my flesh and skin prematurely old; he broke my bones.

4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

5He laid siege against me, surrounding me with bitterness and suffering.

5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

6He has forced me to live in darkness, like those who are long dead.

6He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.

7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he placed heavy chains on me.

7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.

8Indeed, when I cry out, calling for help, he shuts out my prayer.

8Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

9He impeded my way with blocks of stone, making my paths uneven.

9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.

10He is like a bear that lies in wait for me, a lion in hiding.

10He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.

11He forced me off my path, tearing me to pieces and making me desolate.

11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.

12He bent his bow, aiming at me with his arrow.

12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13He caused his war arrows to pierce my vital organs.

13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

14I have become a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunts throughout the day.

14I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.

15He has filled me with bitterness, making me drink wormwood.

15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.

16He broke my teeth on gravel, covering me with dust.

16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.

17You have removed peace from my life; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.

18So I say, "My strength is gone as is my hope in the LORD."

18And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:

19Remember my affliction and homelessness— wormwood and gall!

19Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20My mind keeps reflecting on it, and I become depressed.

20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

21This is what comes to mind, and therefore I have hope:

21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

22Because of the LORD's gracious love we are not consumed, since his compassions never end.

22It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23They are new every morning— great is your faithfulness!

23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

24"The LORD is all I have," says my soul, "Therefore I will trust in him."

24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

25The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who searches for him.

25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

26It is good to hope and wait patiently for the LORD's salvation.

26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

27It is good when a young man carries the yoke of discipline in his youth.

27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

28He is to sit apart and remain silent, because the LORD has laid it upon him.

28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

29Let him fall face down in the dust, so there may yet be hope.

29He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

30He will endure being slapped in the face, bringing him public disgrace.

30He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.

31Indeed, the Lord will not always reject us —

31For the Lord will not cast off for ever:

32though he causes grief, his compassion abounds according to his gracious love.

32But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

33For he does not deliberately hurt or grieve human beings.

33For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

34When any of the prisoners of the earth are crushed underfoot,

34To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

35when a person's rights are perverted in defiance of the Most High.

35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

36When a man is thwarted in his appeal, does the Lord condone it?

36To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.

37Who can command, and it happens, without the Lord having ordered it?

37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

38Do not both good and evil things proceed from the mouth of the Most High?

38Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?

39Why should anyone living complain, any mortal, about being punished for sin?

39Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

40Let us examine our lifestyles, putting them to the test, and turn back to the LORD.

40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.

41Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

42As for us, we have sinned and rebelled; but you have not pardoned us.

42We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.

43Clothing yourself with anger, you pursued us. You killed without pity,

43Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

44You covered yourself with a cloud that prayer cannot pierce.

44Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.

45You have reduced us to scum and garbage among the nations.

45Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

46All our enemies jeer at us with gaping mouths.

46All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

47Panic and pitfalls beset us, along with devastation and ruin.

47Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

48My eyes run with rivers of tears over the destruction of my cherished people.

48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49My tears pour down ceaselessly; I am far from relief

49Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

50until the LORD bends down to see from heaven.

50Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.

51What I see grieves my soul because of all the young women of my city.

51Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.

52My enemies hunted me like a bird, viciously and without justification.

52Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.

53They dumped me alive into a pit, sealing me in with stone.

53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.

54Water closed over my head, and I said, "I'm a dead man."

54Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.

55I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the Pit,

55I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.

56You heard my voice— don't close your ear to my sighs and cries.

56Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

57You drew near when I called out to you. You said, "Stop being afraid"

57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.

58Lord, you have defended my cause; you have redeemed my life.

58O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

59LORD, you observed how I have been wronged; now make your ruling in my case.

59O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.

60You examined their plans for vengeance, all of their plots against me.

60Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.

61LORD, you listened to their insults— all their plots against me,

61Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;

62the whisperings of my opponents, their scheming against me all day long.

62The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.

63Watch! Whether they sit down or stand up, they mock me with their songs.

63Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.

64Pay them back, LORD, according to their actions.

64Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

65Give them an anguished heart; may your curse be upon them!

65Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.

66Pursue them in your anger and destroy them from under the LORD's heaven.

66Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.