1 ARST I, the one who am writing this, am a man whom Yahweh made to suffer, because he was angry. BSB BSB: I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 ARST It was as though he caused me to walk in a very dark place without any light at all. BSB BSB: He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
3 ARST He has punished me many times, many times during each day. BSB BSB: Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
4 ARST He has caused my skin and my flesh to become old. He has broken my bones. BSB BSB: He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
5 ARST He has surrounded me with things that make me suffer very bitterly. BSB BSB: He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 ARST It is as though he has buried me in a dark place like those who have been dead for a long time. BSB BSB: He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
7 ARST It is as though he has built a prison wall around me, and fastened me with heavy chains, so I cannot escape. BSB BSB: He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
8 ARST Although I call out and cry out for him to help me, he does not pay attention to me. BSB BSB: Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9 ARST It is as though he has blocked my path with a high stone wall and has caused me to wander everywhere to try to get out. BSB BSB: He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
10 ARST He has waited to attack me like a bear or a lion hides and waits to attack a man. BSB BSB: He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
11 ARST It is as though a bear has dragged me off the path and mauled me, and left me alone without help. BSB BSB: He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
12 ARST It is as though he strung his bow and made me the target to shoot at with his arrows. BSB BSB: He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
13 ARST It is as though he shot his arrows deep into my body. BSB BSB: He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
14 ARST All my relatives laugh at me; all during each day they sing songs that make fun of me. BSB BSB: I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15 ARST Yahweh has made me suffer greatly, like someone suffers after drinking something very bitter. BSB BSB: He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
16 ARST It is as though he has caused me to chew gravel that broke my teeth; it is as though he has trampled me in the ground. BSB BSB: He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
17 ARST Things no longer go well for me; I no longer remember being prosperous. BSB BSB: My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 ARST I continue to say to myself,“I am not strong enough to bear any more hardships. I no longer expect that Yahweh will rescue me.” BSB BSB: So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
19 ARST When I think about how I suffer and how I wander far from home, it is like drinking a very bitter liquid. BSB BSB: Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20 ARST I will never forget this time when I feel very depressed. BSB BSB: Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
21 ARST However, I confidently expect Yahweh to do good things for me again, and this I know is true. BSB BSB: Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
23 ARST Every morning he acts mercifully toward us again. He is the one in whom we can always trust. BSB BSB: They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24 ARST So I sincerely say to myself,“Yahweh gives me what I need!” Because I believe this, I will confidently wait for him to do good things for me. BSB BSB: “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 ARST Yahweh is good to all those who depend on him, to those who seek him to help them. BSB BSB: The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26 ARST So it is good for us to wait quietly for Yahweh to save us. BSB BSB: It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 ARST And it is good for us to suffer patiently while we are young. BSB BSB: It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28 ARST Those who seek him to help them should sit by themselves and not complain, because they know that it is Yahweh who has allowed them to suffer. BSB BSB: Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.
29 ARST They should lie in the dirt, with their faces on the ground, because they can still hope that Yahweh will help them. BSB BSB: Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope.
30 ARST If 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 it when others insult us. BSB BSB: Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
31 ARST The Lord does not abandon his people forever. BSB BSB: For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
32 ARST Sometimes he causes us to suffer, but he also acts kindly toward us because he continually and faithfully loves us. BSB BSB: Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
33 ARST And he does not take pleasure when he causes people to suffer or be sad. BSB BSB: For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
34 ARST If people mistreat and oppress all the prisoners, BSB BSB: To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35 ARST or if they rebel against God by refusing to do for others what is right, BSB BSB: to deny a man justice before the Most High,
36 ARST or if they cause judges to decide matters unjustly, the Lord certainly sees all these things. BSB BSB: to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.
37 ARST No one can make something happen unless Yahweh has already decided that it should happen. BSB BSB: Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38 ARST God in heaven is the one who commands that disasters should happen, and he also causes good things to happen. BSB BSB: Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 ARST So it is certainly not right for us, who are only people on earth, to complain when he punishes us for the sins that we have committed. BSB BSB: Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
40 ARST Instead, we should think carefully about how we behave; we should turn back to Yahweh. BSB BSB: Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
41 ARST We should pray with all our inner beings and lift up our arms toward God in heaven, and say, BSB BSB: Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 ARST “We have sinned and rebelled against you, and you have not forgiven us. BSB BSB: “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43 ARST You have been very angry and chased after us; you have slaughtered us without pitying us. BSB BSB: You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
44 ARST You have hidden yourself away, as if you were in a cloud, so that you will not hear us when we pray. BSB BSB: You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
45 ARST You have made us go among the foreign peoples, and they think we are only garbage. BSB BSB: You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46 ARST All our enemies have spoken things to insult us. BSB BSB: All our enemies open their mouths against us.
47 ARST We are constantly afraid that people will trap us, because we have experienced so many disasters and so much ruin. BSB BSB: Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.
48 ARST Many tears flow from my eyes because my people have been destroyed. BSB BSB: Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 ARST My tears continually flow; they will not stop BSB BSB: My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
50 ARST until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees us. BSB BSB: until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51 ARST I am very grieved because of what has happened to the women of my city. BSB BSB: My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 ARST My enemies hunted for me like people hunt for a bird to kill it even though there was no reason for them to do that. BSB BSB: Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 ARST They threw me into a pit to kill me, and placed a heavy stone over the top of it. BSB BSB: They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
54 ARST The water in the pit rose above my head, and I said to myself,‘I am about to die!’ BSB BSB: The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
55 ARST But from the bottom of the pit I cried out to you,‘Yahweh, help me!’ BSB BSB: I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
56 ARST I pleaded with you,‘Do not refuse to hear me when I cry out to you!’ BSB BSB: You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
57 ARST Then you answered me and said,‘Do not be afraid!’ BSB BSB: You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 ARST Yahweh, you argued for me when people wanted to condemn me and execute me; you did not allow me to die. BSB BSB: You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
59 ARST Now, Yahweh, you have seen the evil things that my enemies have done to me, so judge my case and show that I have done nothing wrong. BSB BSB: You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60 ARST You know the evil things that they are planning to do to me. BSB BSB: You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61 ARST Yahweh, you have heard them insult me; you have heard what they plan to do to me. BSB BSB: O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62 ARST Every day they whisper and mutter things about me, all during the day. BSB BSB: the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
63 ARST Look at them! Whatever they are doing at the moment, they make fun of me by the songs that they sing. BSB BSB: When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
64 ARST Yahweh, give them what they deserve! Pay them back for what they have done to me! BSB BSB: You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 ARST You permit them to do whatever they want, and you punish them by taking away their shame. That is why your curse is upon them. BSB BSB: Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
66 ARST Because you are angry with them, pursue them and get rid of them, until none of them remain on the earth.” BSB BSB: You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.