The prophet speaks
1I am the man who has suffered
because the Lord became
angry with me and punished me.
2He chased me into a dark place
where there was no light.
3I am the only one
whom He punishes every day.
4He made my flesh and skin
become completely dry and
He broke the bones in my body.
5He besieged me and built a wall around me.
He made my life very difficult,
and He made me suffer.
6He made me live in darkness,
like people who died long ago.
7He built a wall around me
so that I could not get out.
He tied me with strong chains.
8He does not want to listen to me
when I pray.
He does not listen when I shout
and pray and ask Him to help me.
9He put big rocks in my way,
and He made me walk on a difficult road.
10He is like a bear that is waiting to catch me,
and like a lion that comes to get me.
11He pulled me out of the way.
He tore my body to pieces and left me.
12He took his bow_and_arrow
and turned to shoot me.
13He shot his arrows into my liver.
14All my people laugh at me.
They mock me and sing about me
to humiliate me all day long.
15The Lord has made my life
very difficult and bitter,
like eating wormwood.
16He made me chew stones
until my teeth broke off.
He trampled me on the ash-heap.
17There is no peace in my life.
I don't know what it feels
like when things are going well.
18I said to myself:
‘The Lord will not help me.
I don't have any more hope.’
19Lord, please remember that I am suffering.
I don't have a place to stay.
When I think of my trouble,
it is like wormwood and poison.
20If I think about it, I become discouraged.
21There is one thing that I know
and this is sure,
and this is why I will keep on hoping:
22The Lord always does what He has promised,
and He always feels sorry for people who suffer.
23Lord, You do this every morning.
You always stay the same.
24I say: ‘The Lord is all I have,
and that is why I will keep on hoping.’
25The Lord is good to people
who believe that He will help them.
He is good to people who want to be near Him.
26It is good to keep quiet
and believe that the Lord will save you.
27It is good for someone
to have a yoke on his shoulders
when he is young,
28if he has to sit alone and keep quiet
because the Lord has put a yoke on him.
29It is good when someone has to
lie down with his face to the ground,
because then he can hope that something good will happen.
30It is good when someone
shows his cheek to the person
who wants to hit him.
It is good if he says they
may mock him, and he will not be angry.
31Because the Lord
will not leave his people forever.
32He makes people suffer
but He feels sorry for them again.
He always does what He has promised.
33Yes, the Lord does not like
to punish people or to make them suffer.
34The Lord sees when people
do bad things to prisoners.
35The Most High God sees
when people do to other people
what is not right.
36The Lord sees when someone
says innocent people are guilty.
37No one can say what will happen.
It is the Lord who decides
that something must happen.
38When the Most High God
says something will happen,
it happens, good or bad.
39Why does someone complain
when God punishes him for his sins?
He must stop doing sin.
40We must think a lot about
how we live and what we do.
And we must come back to the Lord.
41We must think about God
and put out our hands to Him
and pray to God in heaven.
42We have sinned.
We were rebellious_against You,
and You did not forgive us.
43You were angry, and You chased us.
You caused us to die and You did not
feel sorry for us.
44You covered Yourself with a cloud
so that our prayers could not come to You.
45You made other nations think
that we are useless, and that we are dirt.
46All our enemies are happy
about what has happened to us.
47We have become afraid, and it feels
as if we have fallen into a deep hole.
We are alone, and we have been destroyed.
48Tears flow from my eyes
like floods of water.
I cry because my people are broken and destroyed.
49My tears will keep on flowing.
They will not stop.
50I will keep on crying
until the Lord looks down
from heaven and helps.
51When I see what has happened
to all the women in my city,
I become very sad.
52I have done nothing wrong,
but my enemies have hunted me
like people hunt birds.
53They threw me into a water-well
and then threw stones at me.
54The water flowed over my head,
and I thought I would never come out.
55Lord, from the bottom of the well
I shouted and asked You to help me.
56You heard me praying when I said:
‘Please don't look away from me
when I shout and ask You to save me.’
57When I shouted,
You came to me and You said:
‘Don't be afraid.’
58Lord, You helped me
and defended me
against the people who accused me.
You saved my life.
59Lord, You have seen people
doing things to me that are wrong.
Please judge them and tell them
that I have done nothing wrong.
60You have seen what they
want to do to me.
You know about their plans against me.
61Lord, You heard them
when they were mocking me.
You know about all their plans against me.
62You know how my enemies
say things against me,
and how they talk behind their hands
when they talk about me.
63Listen to how they mock me
when they sing.
They do it all the time.
64Lord, do to them
what they have done to me.
Punish them for what they have done.
65Please let their minds
be confused and curse them.
66Stay angry with them.
Chase and kill them.
There must be nothing left of them
under the heaven of the Lord.
