Hope in the midst of distress

1I , the one who am writing this, am a man who has been afflicted/punished [MTY] by Yahweh because he was angry.

2It was as though he caused me to walk in a very dark place without any light at all.

3He has punished [IDM] me many times, all day, every day.

4He has caused my skin and my flesh to become old. He has broken my bones.

5He has surrounded me [DOU] with bitterness and suffering.

6It is as though he has buried me in a dark place like [SIM] the graves of those who have been dead for a long time.

7It is as though [MET] he has built a wall around me, and fastened/tied me with heavy chains,
and I cannot escape.

8Although I call out and cry out for him to help me, he does not pay attention to my prayers.

9It is as though he has blocked my path with a high stone wall and has caused my path to become crooked.

10He has waited to attack me like [SIM] a bear or a lion hides and waits to attack other animals.

11It is as though he has dragged me off the path and ◄mauled me/torn me into pieces►, and left me without help.

12It is as though [MET] he bent his bow and caused me to become the target at which he shot his arrows.

13It is as though he shot his arrows deep into my body.

14All my relatives laugh at me; all day, every day they sing songs that make fun of me.

15He has filled me with ◄bitterness/great suffering►, like [MET] someone who drinks a very bitter liquid suffers.

16It is as though he has caused me to chew gravel that broke my teeth, and he has trampled me in the dirt.

17Things no longer go well for me; I no longer remember being prosperous.

18I continued to say to myself, “I no longer expect to live much longer; I no longer confidently expect to receive good things from Yahweh!”

19When I think about my suffering and my wandering away from home, it is like drinking a very bitter [DOU] liquid.

20I will never forget this time when I feel very depressed/discouraged [IDM].

21However, I confidently expect Yahweh to do good things for me again when I think about this:

22Yahweh never stops faithfully loving us, and he never stops being kind to us.

23He is the one whom we can always trust/lean on. Every morning he is merciful to us again.

24So I say to myself, “Yahweh is all that I need; so I will confidently wait for him to do good things for me.”

25Yahweh is good to all those who depend on him, to those who seek his help.

26So it is good for us to wait quietly for Yahweh to save/rescue us.

27And it is good for us to patiently endure suffering while we are young.

28Those who seek his help should sit by themselves, silently, knowing that it is Yahweh who has allowed/caused them to suffer.

29They should lie in the dirt, with their faces on the ground, because they can still hope that Yahweh will help them.

30If someone strikes us on one cheek, we should turn the other cheek toward that person in order that he may strike it, too,
and accept/endure it when we are insulted.

31Yahweh does not abandon us his people forever.

32Sometimes he causes us to suffer, but sometimes he is kind to us because he continually and faithfully loves us.

33And he is not happy about causing human beings to suffer or to be sad.

34If people ◄mistreat all the prisoners/crush all the prisoners under their feet►

35or if they rebel against God by refusing to give to people the things that it is right for them to receive,

36or if they cause judges to decide matters unjustly, ◄does Yahweh not see all those things?/Yahweh certainly sees all those things!► [RHQ]

37No one can [RHQ] command something to happen and then cause it to happen if Yahweh has not already decided that it should happen.

38God in heaven [MTY] is [RHQ] the one who causes disasters to happen, and he also causes good things to happen.

39So it is certainly not [RHQ] right for us, who are only humans, to complain when he punishes us for the sins that we have committed.

40Instead, we should ◄examine/think carefully about► our behavior; we should turn back to Yahweh.

41We should pray [IDM] sincerely and lift up our arms toward God in heaven, and say,

42“We have sinned and rebelled against you, and you have not forgiven us.

43You have surrounded us with your anger and pursued us; you have slaughtered us without pitying us.

44You have hidden yourself in a cloud, with the result that you do not hear us when we pray.

45You have caused the people of other nations to consider us to be only garbage [DOU].

46All our enemies have insulted us.

47We are constantly afraid [DOU], because we have experienced disasters and ruin [DOU].”

48I cry a lot because my people have been destroyed.

49My tears continually flow; they will not stop

50until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees us.

51I am very grieved because of what has happened to the women of my city.

52Those who are my enemies hunted for me like [SIM] people hunt for a bird to kill it even though there was no reason for them to do that.

53They threw me into a pit to kill me, and they threw stones on top of me.

54The water in the pit rose above my head, and I said to myself, “I am about to die/drown!”

55But from the bottom of the pit I cried out to you [MTY], “Yahweh, help me!”

56I pleaded with you, “Do not refuse to heed [MTY] me while I cry out to you!”

57Then you answered me and said, “Do not be afraid!”

58Yahweh, you defended me; you did not allow me to die.

59Now, Yahweh, you have seen the evil things that my enemies have done to me, so decide my case and show that I am right!

60You know the evil things that they have planned to do to me.

61Yahweh, you have heard them insult me and what they have planned to do to me.

62Every day they whisper and mutter things about me, all day long.

63Look at them! Whether they are standing or sitting they make fun of me with the songs that they sing.

64Yahweh, cause them to suffer in return for their causing me to suffer!

65Curse them [IDM] for their being very stubborn [IDM].

66Because you are angry with them, pursue them and get rid of them, until none of them remain on the earth.