1  ^kI am the man who has seen affliction

under the ^lrod of his wrath;

2  he has driven and brought me

^minto darkness without any light;

3  surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long.

4  He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;

ⁿhe has broken my bones;

5  ^ohe has besieged and enveloped me

with ^pbitterness and tribulation;

6  ^qhe has made me dwell in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

7  ^rHe has walled me about so that ^sI cannot escape;

he has made my chains heavy;

8  though ^tI call and cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

9  ^rhe has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

he has made my paths crooked.

10  ^uHe is a bear lying in wait for me,

a lion in hiding;

11  ^vhe turned aside my steps and ^utore me to pieces;

^whe has made me desolate;

12  ^xhe bent his bow ^yand set me

as a target for his arrow.

13  He drove into my kidneys

^zthe arrows of his quiver;

14  ^aI have become the laughingstock of all peoples,

^bthe object of their taunts all day long.

15  ^cHe has filled me with bitterness;

he has sated me with ^dwormwood.

16  ^eHe has made my teeth grind on gravel,

and ^fmade me cower in ashes;

17  my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness¹ is;

18  ^gso I say, “My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.”

19  ^hRemember my affliction and my wanderings,

^dthe wormwood and ⁱthe gall!

20  My soul continually remembers it

^jand is bowed down within me.

21  But this I call to mind,

and ^ktherefore I have hope:

22  ^lThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;²

^lhis mercies never come to an end;

23  they are new ^mevery morning;

ⁿgreat is your faithfulness.

24  ^o“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

^k“therefore I will hope in him.”

25  The Lord is good to those who ^pwait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

26  ^qIt is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

27  ^rIt is good for a man that he bear

the yoke ^sin his youth.

28  Let him ^tsit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

29  ^ulet him put his mouth in the dust—

there may yet be hope;

30  ^vlet him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

31  ^wFor the Lord will not

cast off forever,

32  but, though he ^xcause grief, ^yhe will have compassion

^zaccording to the abundance of his steadfast love;

33  ^afor he does not afflict from his heart

or ^bgrieve the children of men.

34  To crush underfoot

all ^cthe prisoners of the earth,

35  ^dto deny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

36  to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

^dthe Lord does not approve.

37  ^eWho has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

38  ^fIs it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good and bad come?

39  ^gWhy should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

40  Let us test and examine our ways,

^hand return to the Lord!

41  ⁱLet us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

42  ^j“We have transgressed and ^krebelled,

and you have not forgiven.

43  “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,

^lkilling without pity;

44  ^myou have wrapped yourself with a cloud

so that no prayer can pass through.

45  ⁿYou have made us scum and garbage

among the peoples.

46  ^o“All our enemies

open their mouths against us;

47  ^ppanic and pitfall have come upon us,

devastation and ^qdestruction;

48  ^rmy eyes flow with rivers of tears

because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49  ^r“My eyes will flow without ceasing,

without respite,

50  ^suntil the Lord from heaven

looks down and sees;

51  my eyes cause me grief

at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

52  ^t“I have been hunted ^ulike a bird

by those who were my enemies ^vwithout cause;

53  ^wthey flung me alive into the pit

^xand cast stones on me;

54  ^ywater closed over my head;

I said, ^z‘I am lost.’

55  ^a“I called on your name, O Lord,

from the depths of the pit;

56  ^byou heard my plea, ‘Do not close

your ear to my cry for help!’

57  ^cYou came near when I called on you;

you said, ^d‘Do not fear!’

58  “You have ^etaken up my cause, ^fO Lord;

you have ^eredeemed my life.

59  You have seen the wrong done to me, ^gO Lord;

judge my cause.

60  You have seen all their vengeance,

all ^htheir plots against me.

61  ⁱ“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,

all ^htheir plots against me.

62  The lips and thoughts ^jof my assailants

are against me all the day long.

63  ^kBehold their sitting and their rising;

^lI am the object of their taunts.

64  ^m“You will repay them,³ O Lord,

ⁿaccording to the work of their hands.

65  You will give them⁴ dullness of heart;

your curse will be⁵ on them.

66  You will pursue them⁶ in anger and ^odestroy them

from under ^pyour heavens, O Lord.”⁷

1  ^qHow the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

^rat the head of every street.

2  The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in ^sfine gold,

how they are regarded as ^tearthen pots,

the work of a potter’s hands!

3  Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4  The tongue of the nursing infant ^usticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

^vthe children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

5  Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

^wthose who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

6  ^xFor the chastisement⁸ of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment⁹ of Sodom,

^ywhich was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.¹⁰

7  Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form¹¹ was like sapphire.¹²

8  ^zNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

9  Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

10  ^aThe hands of ^bcompassionate women

^chave boiled their own children;

^dthey became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11  ^eThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and ^fhe kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

12  ^gThe kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

13  This was for ^hthe sins of her prophets

and ^hthe iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

14  ⁱThey wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

^jthat no one was able to touch

their garments.

15  “Away! ^kUnclean!” people cried at them.

“Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

16  ^lThe Lord himself¹³ has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

^mno honor was shown to the priests,

ⁿno favor to the elders.

17  ^oOur eyes failed, ever watching

^ovainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for ^pa nation which could not save.

18  ^qThey dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

^rour end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

19  Our pursuers were ^sswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20  ^tThe breath of our nostrils, ^uthe Lord’s anointed,

was captured ^vin their pits,

of whom we said, ^w“Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

21  ^xRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in ^ythe land of Uz;

but to you also ^zthe cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

22  ^aThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;¹⁴

but ^byour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.

1  ^cRemember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see ^dour disgrace!

2  ^eOur inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our homes to foreigners.

3  We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

4  We must pay for the water we drink;

the wood we get must be bought.

5  ^fOur pursuers are at our necks;

we are weary; we are given no rest.

6  We have given the hand to ^gEgypt, and to ^gAssyria,

to get bread enough.

7  Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

^hand we bear their iniquities.

8  ⁱSlaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

9  ^jWe get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

10  ^kOur skin is hot as an oven

with ^lthe burning heat of famine.

11  Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

12  ^mPrinces are hung up by their hands;

ⁿno respect is shown to the elders.

13  Young men are compelled to ^ogrind at the mill,

and boys stagger ^punder loads of wood.

14  ⁿThe old men have left the city gate,

the young men ^qtheir music.

15  ^qThe joy of our hearts has ceased;

^rour dancing has been turned to mourning.

16  ^sThe crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

17  For this ^tour heart has become sick,

for these things ^uour eyes have grown dim,

18  for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

^vjackals prowl over it.

19  ^wBut you, O Lord, reign forever;

your throne endures to all generations.

20  ^xWhy do you forget us forever,

why do you forsake us for so many days?

21  ^yRestore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!

Renew our days as of old—

22  ^zunless you have utterly rejected us,

and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

^d“The Lord is my helper;

^eI will not fear;

what can man do to me?”