The Prophet’s Afflictions 1 UST I am a man who has suffered greatly because God punished me when he was very angry. BSB BSB: I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 UST He sent me into a place where I only suffer and nothing good happens to me. BSB BSB: He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
3 UST He keeps acting against me again and again, all day long. BETH BSB BSB: Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
4 UST He afflicted my body and broke my bones. BSB BSB: He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
5 UST He attacked me on every side and caused me to suffer terribly. BSB BSB: He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 UST He made me feel hopeless, like no one remembers me. GIMEL BSB BSB: He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
7 UST He has completely trapped me so that I cannot escape. BSB BSB: He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
8 UST Even though I beg him to help me, he refuses to listen when I pray. BSB BSB: Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9 UST He has blocked every way forward for me so that I cannot make any progress in my life. DALETH BSB BSB: He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
10 UST He waited to attack me like a bear hiding to ambush its prey, like a lion crouching in a hidden place. BSB BSB: He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
11 UST He ruined my plans and destroyed me; he made me poor. BSB BSB: He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
12 UST He deliberately chose to attack me and made me the one he would harm. HE BSB BSB: He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
13 UST He deliberately caused me intense suffering. BSB BSB: He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
14 UST All my own people mock me constantly with their songs. BSB BSB: I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15 UST He has caused me to suffer so much that I cannot bear it. WAW BSB BSB: He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
16 UST He completely humiliated me and degraded me. BSB BSB: He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
17 UST God took away all my peace; I no longer remember what happiness feels like. BSB BSB: My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 UST So I said to myself,“I cannot endure any longer, and I have no more reason to hope in Yahweh.” ZAYIN BSB BSB: So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
The Prophet’s Hope 19 UST Yahweh, remember how I have suffered and wandered; I have suffered so very greatly. BSB BSB: Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20 UST I keep thinking about it over and over, and it makes me deeply depressed. BSB BSB: Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
21 UST Yet when I think about this one thing, I find reason to hope: HETH BSB BSB: Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
23 UST Every morning he shows us mercy again; he is always faithful to us. BSB BSB: They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24 UST I said to myself,“Yahweh is all that I need; so I will confidently wait for him.” TETH BSB BSB: “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 UST Yahweh is good to everyone who depends on him, to everyone who hopes that Yahweh will help him. BSB BSB: The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26 UST It is good to wait quietly for Yahweh to save us. BSB BSB: It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 UST It is good for a person to endure suffering patiently while still young. YODH BSB BSB: It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28 UST A person should accept his situation quietly and not complain when God causes him to suffer. BSB BSB: Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.
29 UST He should bow down with his face to the ground, because there may still be reason to hope. BSB BSB: Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope.
30 UST He should offer his cheek to the one who hits him and accept all the insults people give him. KAPH BSB BSB: Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
31 UST The Lord does not reject people forever. BSB BSB: For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
32 UST Even though he causes people to grieve, he will show them mercy because he always faithfully loves them. BSB BSB: Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
33 UST He does not enjoy causing people to suffer or making them grieve. LAMEDH BSB BSB: For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
34 UST When people crush all the prisoners in a land under their feet, BSB BSB: To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35 UST when they cheat someone and deny him what he deserves right in front of the Most High God, BSB BSB: to deny a man justice before the Most High,
36 UST when they treat someone unfairly in his legal dispute— the Lord does not approve of any of these things. MEM BSB BSB: to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.
God’s Justice 37 UST No one can simply speak and make something happen unless the Lord has commanded it. BSB BSB: Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38 UST The Most High God is the one who decides both the bad things and the good things that happen. BSB BSB: Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 UST No living person should complain when God punishes him for his sins. NUN BSB BSB: Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
40 UST Instead, we should carefully examine how we have been living, and we should turn back to Yahweh. BSB BSB: Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
41 UST We should sincerely pray, raising our hands to God in heaven: BSB BSB: Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 UST “We have sinned and rebelled against you, and you have not forgiven us. SAMEKH BSB BSB: “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43 UST Because you were angry, you chased after us; you killed us without showing us any mercy. BSB BSB: You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
44 UST You made yourself unreachable so that you did not hear any of our prayers. BSB BSB: You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
45 UST You have made the other nations treat us as though we are nothing but garbage and filth. AYIN BSB BSB: You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46 UST All our enemies have spoken hateful things against us. BSB BSB: All our enemies open their mouths against us.
47 UST We have experienced nothing but fear and danger, ruin and destruction.” BSB BSB: Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.
48 UST Many tears flow from my eyes because enemies have destroyed my people. PE BSB BSB: Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 UST My tears pour out and will not stop; they will not end BSB BSB: My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
50 UST until Yahweh looks down and sees us from heaven. BSB BSB: until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51 UST What I see makes me grieve deeply because of what has happened to all the women of my city. TSADHE BSB BSB: My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 UST My enemies relentlessly pursued me without any reason, even though I had done nothing wrong. BSB BSB: Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 UST They threw me into a pit to kill me and dropped stones on top of me. BSB BSB: They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
54 UST Water rose over my head, and I said to myself,“I am going to die!” QOPH BSB BSB: The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
55 UST I called out to you, Yahweh, from the deepest part of that pit. BSB BSB: I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
56 UST You heard me; do not ignore me when I cry out to you for help! BSB BSB: You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
57 UST You came near when I called to you and said,“Do not be afraid!” RESH BSB BSB: You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 UST Lord, you defended me; you saved my life. BSB BSB: You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
59 UST Yahweh, you have seen how my enemies have wronged me; make things right for me! BSB BSB: You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60 UST You have seen how they want to take revenge on me and all the things they have planned to do to me. SIN BSB BSB: You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61 UST Yahweh, you have heard them insult me and all the things they have planned to do to me. BSB BSB: O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62 UST Those who oppose me whisper and mutter things about me all day long. BSB BSB: the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
63 UST Look at them! No matter what they are doing, they make fun of me in their songs. TAW BSB BSB: When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
64 UST Yahweh, pay them back for what they have done! BSB BSB: You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 UST Make them stubborn, and let your curse fall on them. BSB BSB: Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
66 UST Because you are angry with them, chase them and destroy them so they no longer exist anywhere on 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.