International Standard Version

New American Standard Bible 1995

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

1I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

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

2He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.

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

3Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.

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

4He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.

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

5He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.

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

6In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.

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

7He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

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

8Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.

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

9He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.

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

10He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.

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

11He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.

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

12He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.

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

13He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

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

14I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.

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

15He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.

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

16He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.

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

17My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.

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

18So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."

19Remember my affliction and homelessness— wormwood and gall!

19Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.

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

20Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.

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

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

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

22The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

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

23They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

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

24"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."

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

25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

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

26It is good that he waits silently 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 should bear The yoke in his youth.

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

28Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him.

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

29Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope.

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

30Let him give his cheek to the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach.

31Indeed, the Lord will not always reject us —

31For the Lord will not reject forever,

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

32For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.

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

33For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men.

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

34To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,

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

35To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,

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

36To defraud a man in his lawsuit-- Of these things the Lord does not approve.

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

37Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?

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

38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?

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

39Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?

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

40Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

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

41We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;

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

42We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned.

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

43You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and have not spared.

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

44You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.

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

45You have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.

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.

47Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;

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

48My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

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

49My eyes pour down unceasingly, Without stopping,

50until the LORD bends down to see from heaven.

50Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven.

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

51My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.

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

52My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird;

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

53They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.

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

54Waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!"

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

55I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit.

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

56You have heard my voice, "Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help."

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

57You drew near when I called on You; You said, "Do not fear!"

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

58O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause; You have redeemed my life.

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

59O LORD, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case.

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

60You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me.

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

61You have heard their reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me.

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

62The lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long.

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

63Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.

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

64You will recompense them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands.

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

65You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them.

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

66You will pursue them in anger and destroy them 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.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org