1 I am the man who has experienced affliction
from the rod of theLord’s wrath.
2 He drove me into captivity and made me walk
in darkness and not light.
3 He repeatedly attacks me;
he turns his hand against me all day long.
4 He has made my mortal skin waste away;
he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me
with bitter hardship.
6 He has made me reside in deepest darkness
like those who died long ago.
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot get out;
he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.
8 Also, when I cry out desperately for help,
he has shut out my prayer.
9 He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones;
he has made every path impassable.
10 To me he is like a bear lying in ambush,
like a hidden lion stalking its prey.
11 He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces;
he has made me desolate.
12 He drew his bow and made me
the target for his arrow.
13 He shot his arrows
into my heart.
14 I have become the laughingstock of all people,
their mocking song all day long.
15 He has given me my fill of bitter herbs
and made me drunk with bitterness.
16 He ground my teeth in gravel;
he trampled me in the dust.
17 I am deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is.
18 So I said, “My endurance has expired;
I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord.”
19 Remember my impoverished and homeless condition,
which is a bitter poison.
20 I continually think about this,
and I am depressed.
21 But this I call to mind;
therefore I have hope:
22 The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases;
his compassions never end.
23 They are fresh every morning;
your faithfulness is abundant!
24 “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself,
so I will put my hope in him.
25 The Lord is good to those who trust in him,
to the one who seeks him.
26 It is good to wait patiently
for deliverance from the Lord.
27 It is good for a man
to bear the yoke while he is young.
28 Let a person sit alone in silence,
when the Lord is disciplining him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust;
perhaps there is hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him;
let him have his fill of insults.
31 For the Lord will not
reject us forever.
32 Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us
according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.
33 For he is not predisposed to afflict
or to grieve people.
34 To crush underfoot
all the earth’s prisoners,
35 to deprive a person of his rights
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to defraud a person in a lawsuit—
the Lord does not approve of such things!
37 Whose command was ever fulfilled
unless the Lord decreed it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes—
both calamity and blessing?
39 Why should any living person complain
when punished for his sins?
40 Let us carefully examine our ways,
and let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven:
42 “We have blatantly rebelled;
you have not forgiven.”
43 You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us;
you killed without mercy.
44 You shrouded yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer could get through.
45 You make us like filthy scum
in the estimation of the nations.
46 All our enemies have gloated over us;
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49 Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop;
there will be no break
50 until the Lord looks down from heaven
and sees what has happened.
51 What my eyes see grieves me—
all the suffering of the daughters in my city.
52 For no good reason my enemies
hunted me down like a bird.
53 They shut me up in a pit
and threw stones at me.
54 The waters closed over my head;
I thought I was about to die.
55 I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit.
56 You heard my plea:
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!”
57 You came near on the day I called to you;
you said, “Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, you championed my cause;
you redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
pronounce judgment on my behalf!
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
61 You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62 My assailants revile and conspire
against me all day long.
63 Watch them from morning to evening;
I am the object of their mocking songs.
64 Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord,
according to what they have done.
65 Give them a distraught heart;
may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in anger and eradicate them
from under the Lord’s heaven.
1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.” 6 But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!” 7 And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire,” 8 but of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.
So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing.”
10 And,
“You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord,
and the heavens are the works of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you continue.
And they will all grow old like a garment,
12 and like a robe you will fold them up
and like a garment they will be changed,
but you are the same and your years will never run out.”
13 But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?
1 O Lord, hear my prayer.
Pay attention to my cry for help.
2 Do not ignore me in my time of trouble.
Listen to me.
When I call out to you, quickly answer me.
3 For my days go up in smoke,
and my bones are charred as in a fireplace.
4 My heart is parched and withered like grass,
for I am unable to eat food.
5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,
my bones protrude from my skin.
6 I am like an owl in the wilderness;
I am like a screech owl among the ruins.
7 I stay awake;
I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who mock me use my name in their curses.
9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread,
and mix my drink with my tears,
10 because of your anger and raging fury.
Indeed, you pick me up and throw me away.
11 My days are coming to an end,
and I am withered like grass.
12 But you, O Lord, rule forever,
and your reputation endures.
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion.
For it is time to have mercy on her,
for the appointed time has come.
14 Indeed, your servants take delight in her stones,
and feel compassion for the dust of her ruins.
15 The nations will respect the reputation of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will respect his splendor,
16 when the Lord rebuilds Zion,
and reveals his splendor,
17 when he responds to the prayer of the destitute,
and does not reject their request.
18 The account of his intervention will be recorded for future generations;
people yet to be born will praise the Lord.
19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above;
from heaven the Lord will look toward earth,
20 in order to hear the painful cries of the prisoners,
and to set free those condemned to die,
21 so they may proclaim the name of the Lord in Zion,
and praise him in Jerusalem,
22 when the nations gather together,
and the kingdoms pay tribute to the Lord.
23 He has taken away my strength in the middle of life;
he has cut short my days.
24 I say, “O my God, please do not take me away in the middle of my life.
You endure through all generations.
25 In earlier times you established the earth;
the skies are your handiwork.
26 They will perish,
but you will endure.
They will wear out like a garment;
like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear.
27 But you remain;
your years do not come to an end.
28 The children of your servants will settle down here,
and their descendants will live securely in your presence.”
21 Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire,
so is a contentious person to kindle strife.
22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
and they have gone down into a person’s innermost being.
