3
1 I am the gever that hath seen affliction
by the rod of His wrath.
2 He hath driven me away, and brought me
into choshech, but not into ohr.
3 Surely against me is He turned;
He turneth His yad against me kol hayom.
4 My basar and my ohr (skin) hath He made old;
He hath broken my atzmot.
5 He hath set up siegeworks against me,
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He hath set me in dark places,
like the mesei olam (long dead).
7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot escape;
He hath made my chain heavy.
8 Also when I cry and call out,
He shutteth out my tefillah.
9 He hath barred my ways with hewn stone,
He hath made my paths crooked.
10 He was unto me like a dov (bear) lying in wait,
and like an aryeh in mistarim (hiding places).
11 He hath turned aside the darkhei of mine, and pulled me in pieces;
He hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent His keshet,
and set me as a target for the khetz (arrow).
13 He hath caused the arrows of His quiver
to enter into my organs.
14 I was a derision to kol ami;
and their* song kol hayom.
15 He hath filled me with merorim (bitter herbs);
He hath made me drunk with suffering.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel,
He hath covered me with aphar.
17 And Thou hast removed my nefesh far off from shalom;
I forgot tovah (prosperity).
18 And I said: My strength and my hope
is perished from Hashem.
19 Remember mine oni (affliction) and my misery,
the sorrow and the trouble.
20 My nefesh hath them still in remembrance,
and is downcast in me.
21 This I recall to my lev,
therefore have I hope:
22 Because of the chasdei Hashem we are not consumed,
for His rachamim fail not.
23 They are chadashim every boker;
great is Thy faithfulness.
24 Hashem is my chelek, saith my nefesh;
therefore in hope will I wait for Him.
25 Hashem is tov unto them that wait for Him,
to the nefesh that seeketh Him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope
and quietly wait for the Teshu'at Hashem.
27 It is tov for a gever that
he bear the ol (yoke) from his youth.
28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence,
because He hath laid it upon him.
29 He putteth his mouth in the aphar;
there may yet be tikvah.
30 He offereth his lekhi (cheek) to him that striketh him;
he is filled full with reproach.†
31 For Adonoi will not cast off l'olam (forever);
32 But though He cause grief,
yet will He have compassion according to the rov chasadav (the multitude of His mercies).
33 For He doth not afflict willingly
nor bring grief to Bnei Ish.
34 To crush under His feet
kol asirei eretz (all the prisoners of the earth),
35 To turn aside the mishpat gever (the right of a man)
before the face of Elyon,
36 To subvert a man in his cause,
Adonoi approveth not.
37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass,
when Adonoi commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of Elyon proceedeth not
hara'ot (the woe) and hatov (the good)?
39 Why doth an adam chai (any man alive) complain,
a gever for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and test derakheinu (our ways),
and let us turn again to Hashem.
41 Let us lift up levavenu (our heart) with our hands
unto El baShomayim.
42 We have transgressed and have rebelled;
Atah lo salachta (Thou hast not pardoned, forgiven).
43 Thou hast covered with af (anger), and pursued us;
Thou hast slain, Thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered Thyself with an anan,
that our tefillah not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring
and refuse among the amim.
46 Kol oyveinu (all our enemies)
have opened their mouths against us.
47 Pachad (terror) and a snare is come upon us,
ruin and destruction.
48 Mine eye runneth down with streams of mayim
for the destruction of Bat Ami.
49 Mine eye will flow down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission
50 Till Hashem look down, and behold from Shomayim.
51 Mine eye affecteth mine nefesh
because of all the banot of my city.
52 Mine enemies hunted me down,
like a tzippor (bird), without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the bor (pit)
and cast an even (stone) upon me.
54 Mayim flowed over mine rosh;
then I said: I am cut off.
55 I called upon Thy Shem, Hashem,
out of the lowest pit.
56 Thou hast heard my voice;
close not thine ear at my sighing,
at my cry.
57 Thou drewest near on the Yom that I called upon Thee;
Thou saidst: Fear not.
58 Adonoi, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my nefesh;
Thou hast redeemed my life.
59 Hashem, Thou hast seen my wrong;
uphold my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance
and all their machsh'vot against me.
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, Hashem,
and all their machsh'vot against me;
62 The whisperings of those that rose up against me,
and their muttering against me kol hayom.
63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up;
Ani (I) am their mocking song.
64 Render unto them a gemul (recompence), Hashem,
according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them hardness of lev as thy curse unto them.
66 Pursue in anger and destroy them
from under HaShomayim of Hashem.
* 3:14 mocking † 3:30 Isa 50:6