Zion's hope of relief after punishment
   10   He lies in wait for me like a bear
    or a lion lurking in a covert.
   11   He has made my way refractory and lamed me
    and left me desolate.
     12   He has strung his bow
  and made me the target for his arrows;
   13   he has pierced my kidneys with shafts
    drawn from his quiver.
   14   I have become a laughing-stock to all nations, ^note
    the target of their mocking songs all day.
   15   He has given me my fill of bitter herbs
    and made me drunk with wormwood.
   16   He has broken my teeth on gravel;
    fed on ashes, I am racked with pain;
   17   peace has gone out of my life,
    and I have forgotten what prosperity means.
   18   Then I cry out that my strength has gone
    and so has my hope in the Lord.


   19   The memory of my distress and my wanderings
    is ^note wormwood and gall.
     20   Remember, O remember,
  and stoop down to me. ^{note note}
   21   All this I take to heart
    and therefore I will wait patiently:
   22   the Lord's true love is surely not spent, ^note
    nor has his compassion failed;
     23   they are new every morning,
    so great is his constancy.
   24   The Lord, I say, is all that I have; ^note
    therefore I will wait for him patiently.
   25   The Lord is good to those who look for him,
    to all who seek him;
   26   it is good to wait in patience and sigh
    for deliverance by the Lord.
     27   It is good, too, for a man
  to carry the yoke in his youth.
   28   Let him sit alone and sigh
    if it is heavy upon him;
   29   let him lay his face in the dust,

Zion's hope of relief after punishment
    and there may yet be hope.
   30   Let him turn his cheek to the smiter
    and endure full measure of abuse;
   31   for the Lord will not cast off
    his servants ^note for ever.
   32   He may punish cruelly, yet he will have compassion
    in the fullness of his love;
   33   he does not willingly afflict
    or punish any mortal man.


   34   To trample underfoot
    any prisoner in the land,
   35   to deprive a man of his rights
    in defiance of the Most High,
   36   to pervert justice in the courts—
    such things the Lord has never approved.


   37   Who can command and it is done,
    if the Lord has forbidden it?
   38   Do not both bad and good proceed
    from the mouth of the Most High?
   39   Why should any man living complain,
    any mortal who has sinned?
   40   Let us examine our ways and put them to the test
    and turn back to the Lord;
   41   let us lift up our hearts, not our hands,
    to God in heaven.
   42   We ourselves have sinned and rebelled,
    and thou hast not forgiven.
   43   In anger thou hast turned ^note and pursued us
    and slain without pity;
   44   thou hast hidden thyself behind the clouds
    beyond reach of our prayers;
   45   thou hast treated us as offscouring and refuse
    among the nations.
   46   All our enemies make mouths
    and jeer at us.
   47   Before us lie hunter's scare and pit,
    devastation and ruin.
   48   My eyes run with streams of water
    because of my people's wound.
   49   My eyes stream with unceasing tears
    and refuse all comfort,

Zion's hope of relief after punishment
   50   while the Lord in heaven looks down
    and watches my affliction, ^note
   51   while the Lord torments ^note me
    with the fate of all the daughters of my city.


     52   Those who for no reason were my enemies
  drove me cruelly like a bird;
   53   they thrust me alive into the silent pit,
    and they closed it over me with a stone;
   54   the waters rose high above my head,
    and I said, ‘My end has come.’
   55   But I called on thy name, O Lord,
    from the depths of the pit;
56   thou heardest my voice; do not turn a deaf ear
    when I cry, ‘Come to my relief.’ ^note
   57   Thou wast near when I called to thee;
    thou didst say, ‘Have no fear.’
   58   Lord, thou didst plead my cause
    and ransom my life;
   59   thou sawest, Lord, the injustice done to me
    and gavest judgement in my favour;
     60   thou sawest their vengeance,
    all their plots against me.
   61   Thou didst hear their bitter taunts, O Lord,
    their many plots against me,
   62   the whispering, the murmurs of my enemies
    all the day long.
   63   See how, whether they sit or stand,
    they taunt me bitterly.
64   Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord,
    pay them back what they deserve.
   65   Show them how hard thy heart can be,
    how little concern thou hast for them.
   66   Pursue them in anger and exterminate them
    from beneath thy heavens, O Lord.

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