2  “I have heard ^emany such things;

^fmiserable comforters are you all.

3  Shall ^gwindy words have an end?

Or what provokes you that you answer?

4  I also could speak as you do,

if you were in my place;

I could join words together against you

and ^hshake my head at you.

5  I could strengthen you with my mouth,

and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

6  “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,

and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?

7  Surely now God has worn me out;

ⁱhe has¹ made desolate all my company.

8  And he has shriveled me up,

which is ^ja witness against me,

and my ^kleanness has risen up against me;

it testifies to my face.

9  He has ^ltorn me in his wrath ^mand hated me;

he has ⁿgnashed his teeth at me;

my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.

10  Men have ^ogaped at me with their mouth;

they have ^pstruck me insolently on the cheek;

they ^qmass themselves together against me.

11  God gives me up to the ungodly

and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

12  I was at ease, and he broke me apart;

he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;

he set me up as his ^rtarget;

13  his ^sarchers surround me.

He slashes open my kidneys ^tand does not spare;

he ^upours out my gall on the ground.

14  He breaks me with ^vbreach upon breach;

he ^wruns upon me like a warrior.

15  I have sewed ^xsackcloth upon my skin

and have laid ^ymy strength ^zin the dust.

16  My face is red with weeping,

and on my eyelids is ^adeep darkness,

17  although there is no ^bviolence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

18  “O earth, ^ccover not my blood,

and let my ^dcry find no resting place.

19  Even now, behold, my ^ewitness is in heaven,

and he who testifies for me is ^fon high.

20  My friends ^gscorn me;

my eye pours out tears to God,

21  that he would ^hargue the case of a man with God,

as² a son of man does with his neighbor.

22  For when a few years have come

I shall go the way ⁱfrom which I shall not return.

1  “My spirit is broken; my days are ^jextinct;

^kthe graveyard is ready for me.

2  Surely there are mockers about me,

and my eye dwells on their ^lprovocation.

3  “Lay down a pledge for me with you;

who is there who will put up ^msecurity for me?

4  Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,

therefore you will not let them triumph.

5  He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—

the ⁿeyes of his children will fail.

6  “He has made me ^oa byword of the peoples,

and I am one before whom men spit.

7  My ^peye has grown dim from vexation,

and all my members are like ^qa shadow.

8  The upright are ^rappalled at this,

and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.

9  Yet the righteous holds to his way,

and he who has ^sclean hands grows stronger and stronger.

10  But you, ^tcome on again, all of you,

and I shall not find a wise man among you.

11  My ^udays are past; my plans are broken off,

the desires of my heart.

12  They ^vmake night into day:

‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’³

13  If I hope for ^wSheol as ^xmy house,

if I make my bed in darkness,

14  if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

15  where then is my hope?

Who will see my hope?

16  Will it go down to the bars of ^wSheol?

Shall we ^ydescend together ^zinto the dust?”⁴

2  “How long will you ^bhunt for words?

Consider, and then we will speak.

3  Why are we counted as ^ccattle?

Why are we stupid in your sight?

4  You who ^dtear yourself in your anger,

shall the earth be forsaken for you,

or ^ethe rock be removed out of its place?

5  “Indeed, ^fthe light of the wicked is put out,

and the flame of his fire does not shine.

6  The light is ^gdark in his tent,

and his lamp above him is put out.

7  His strong steps are shortened,

and his ^hown schemes throw him down.

8  For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

and he walks on its mesh.

9  ⁱA trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare lays hold of him.

10  A rope is hidden for him in the ground,

a trap for him in the path.

11  ^jTerrors frighten him on every side,

and chase him at his heels.

12  His strength is famished,

and calamity is ^kready for his stumbling.

13  It consumes the parts of his skin;

^lthe firstborn of death consumes his limbs.

14  He is torn from the tent in which he trusted

and is brought to ^mthe king of terrors.

15  In his tent dwells that which is none of his;

ⁿsulfur is scattered over his habitation.

16  His ^oroots dry up beneath,

and his branches ^pwither above.

17  His ^qmemory perishes from the earth,

and he has no name in the street.

18  ^rHe is thrust from light into darkness,

and driven out of the world.

19  He has no ^sposterity or progeny among his people,

and no survivor where he used to live.

20  They of the west are appalled at his ^tday,

and ^uhorror seizes them of the east.

21  Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,

such is the place of him who ^vknows not God.”

1  Save me, O God!

For ^uthe waters have come up to my neck.¹

2  I sink in deep ^vmire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood ^wsweeps over me.

3  ^xI am weary with my crying out;

^ymy throat is parched.

^zMy eyes grow dim

with ^awaiting for my God.

4  ^bMore in number than the hairs of my head

are ^cthose who hate me ^dwithout cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

^ethose who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

5  O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

6  Let not those who hope in you ^fbe put to shame through me,

O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

7  For it is ^gfor your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor has covered my face.

8  I have become ^ha stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

9  For ⁱzeal for your house has consumed me,

and ^jthe reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10  When I wept and humbled² my soul with fasting,

it became my reproach.

11  When I made ^ksackcloth my clothing,

I became ^la byword to them.

12  I am the talk of those who ^msit in the gate,

and the drunkards make ⁿsongs about me.

13  But as for me, my ^oprayer is to you, O Lord.

At ^pan acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14  Deliver me

from sinking in ^qthe mire;

^rlet me be delivered from my enemies

and from ^sthe deep waters.

15  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or ^tthe pit close ^uits mouth over me.

16  Answer me, O Lord, for your ^vsteadfast love is good;

according to your abundant ^wmercy, ^xturn to me.

17  ^yHide not your face from your servant,

^zfor I am in distress; ^amake haste to answer me.

18  Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies!

19  You know my ^breproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

20  ^bReproaches have broken my heart,

so that I am in ^cdespair.

I ^dlooked for ^epity, but there was none,

and for ^fcomforters, but I found none.

21  They gave me ^gpoison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me ^hsour wine to drink.

22  ⁱLet their own ^jtable before them become a snare;

^kand when they are at peace, let it become a trap.³

23  ^lLet their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

^mand make their loins tremble continually.

24  Pour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

25  ⁿMay their camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in their tents.

26  For they ^opersecute him whom ^pyou have struck down,

and they recount the pain of ^qthose you have wounded.

27  ^rAdd to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from you.⁴

28  Let them be ^sblotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be ^tenrolled among the righteous.

29  But I am afflicted and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, ^uset me on high!

30  I will ^vpraise the name of God with a song;

I will ^wmagnify him with ^xthanksgiving.

31  This will ^yplease the Lord more than an ox

or a bull ^zwith horns and hoofs.

32  When ^athe humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, ^alet your hearts revive.

33  For the Lord hears the needy

and ^bdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34  Let ^cheaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

35  For ^dGod will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

36  ^ethe offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.