1I am the gever that hath seen affliction
by the rod of His wrath.

2He hath driven me away, and brought me
into choshech, but not into ohr.

3Surely against me is He turned;
He turneth His yad against me kol hayom.

4My basar and my ohr (skin) hath He made old;
He hath broken my atzmot.

5He hath set up siegeworks against me,
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

6He hath set me in dark places,
like the mesei olam (long dead).

7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot escape;
He hath made my chain heavy.

8Also when I cry and call out,
He shutteth out my tefillah.

9He hath barred my ways with hewn stone,
He hath made my paths crooked.

10He was unto me like a dov (bear) lying in wait,
and like an aryeh in mistarim (hiding places).

11He hath turned aside the darkhei of mine, and pulled me in pieces;
He hath made me desolate.

12He hath bent His keshet,
and set me as a target for the khetz (arrow).

13He hath caused the arrows of His quiver
to enter into my organs.

14I was a derision to kol ami;
and their ⁶song kol hayom.

15He hath filled me with merorim (bitter herbs);
He hath made me drunk with suffering.

16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel,
He hath covered me with aphar.

17And Thou hast removed my nefesh far off from shalom;
I forgot tovah (prosperity).

18And I said: My strength and my hope
is perished from Hashem.

19Remember mine oni (affliction) and my misery,
the sorrow and the trouble.

20My nefesh hath them still in remembrance,
and is downcast in me.

21This I recall to my lev,
therefore have I hope:

22Because of the chasdei Hashem we are not consumed,
for His rachamim fail not.

23They are chadashim every boker;
great is Thy faithfulness.

24Hashem is my chelek, saith my nefesh;
therefore in hope will I wait for Him.

25Hashem is tov unto them that wait for Him,
to the nefesh that seeketh Him.

26It is good that a man should both hope
and quietly wait for the Teshu'at Hashem.

27It is tov for a gever that
he bear the ol (yoke) from his youth.

28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence,
because He hath laid it upon him.

29He putteth his mouth in the aphar;
there may yet be tikvah.

30He offereth his lekhi (cheek) to him that striketh him;
he is filled full with reproach. ⁷

31For Adonoi will not cast off l'olam (forever);

32But though He cause grief,
yet will He have compassion according to the rov chasadav (the multitude of His mercies).

33For He doth not afflict willingly
nor bring grief to Bnei Ish.

34To crush under His feet
kol asirei eretz (all the prisoners of the earth),

35To turn aside the mishpat gever (the right of a man)
before the face of Elyon,

36To subvert a man in his cause,
Adonoi approveth not.

37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass,
when Adonoi commandeth it not?

38Out of the mouth of Elyon proceedeth not
hara'ot (the woe) and hatov (the good)?

39Why doth an adam chai (any man alive) complain,
a gever for the punishment of his sins?

40Let us search and test derakheinu (our ways),
and let us turn again to Hashem.

41Let us lift up levavenu (our heart) with our hands
unto El baShomayim.

42We have transgressed and have rebelled;
Atah lo salachta (Thou hast not pardoned, forgiven).

43Thou hast covered with af (anger), and pursued us;
Thou hast slain, Thou hast not pitied.

44Thou hast covered Thyself with an anan,
that our tefillah not pass through.

45Thou hast made us as the offscouring
and refuse among the amim.

46Kol oyveinu (all our enemies)
have opened their mouths against us.

47Pachad (terror) and a snare is come upon us,
ruin and destruction.

48Mine eye runneth down with streams of mayim
for the destruction of Bat Ami.

49Mine eye will flow down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission

50Till Hashem look down, and behold from Shomayim.

51Mine eye affecteth mine nefesh
because of all the banot of my city.

52Mine enemies hunted me down,
like a tzippor (bird), without cause.

53They have cut off my life in the bor (pit)
and cast an even (stone) upon me.

54Mayim flowed over mine rosh;
then I said: I am cut off.

55I called upon Thy Shem, Hashem,
out of the lowest pit.

56Thou hast heard my voice;
close not thine ear at my sighing,
at my cry.

57Thou drewest near on the Yom that I called upon Thee;
Thou saidst: Fear not.

58Adonoi, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my nefesh;
Thou hast redeemed my life.

59Hashem, Thou hast seen my wrong;
uphold my cause.

60Thou hast seen all their vengeance
and all their machsh'vot against me.

61Thou hast heard their reproach, Hashem,
and all their machsh'vot against me;

62The whisperings of those that rose up against me,
and their muttering against me kol hayom.

63Behold their sitting down, and their rising up;
Ani (I) am their mocking song.

64Render unto them a gemul (recompence), Hashem,
according to the work of their hands.

65Give them hardness of lev as thy curse unto them.

66Pursue in anger and destroy them
from under HaShomayim of Hashem.