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 my people,¹

^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 happiness² 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;³

^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.”