¹א (Alef) I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of the Lord’s wrath.²He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light. ³He repeatedly attacks me; he turns his hand against me all day long.⁴ב (Bet) He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones. ⁵He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship. ⁶He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago. ⁷ג (Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains. ⁸Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer. ⁹He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable. ¹⁰ד (Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey.¹¹He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate. ¹²He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow. ¹³ה (He) He shot his arrows into my heart. ¹⁴I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long.¹⁵He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness. ¹⁶ו (Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust. ¹⁷I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. ¹⁸So I said, “My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord.”¹⁹ז (Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison. ²⁰I continually think about this, and I am depressed. ²¹But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope: ²²ח (Khet) The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.²³They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant! ²⁴“My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.²⁵ט (Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.²⁶It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord. ²⁷It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. ²⁸י (Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the Lord is disciplining him.²⁹Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope. ³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults. ³¹כ (Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever. ³²Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. ³³For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people. ³⁴ל (Lamed) To crush underfoot all the earth’s prisoners, ³⁵to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High,³⁶to defraud a person in a lawsuit— the Lord does not approve of such things!³⁷מ (Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it?³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes— both calamity and blessing? ³⁹Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? ⁴⁰נ (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord. ⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: ⁴²“We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven.” ⁴³ס (Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy. ⁴⁴You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer could get through. ⁴⁵You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations. ⁴⁶פ (Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us;⁴⁷panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction. ⁴⁸Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. ⁴⁹ע (Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break ⁵⁰until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.⁵¹What my eyes see grieves me— all the suffering of the daughters in my city. ⁵²צ (Tsade) For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird. ⁵³They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me.⁵⁴The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die. ⁵⁵ק (Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit. ⁵⁶You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” ⁵⁷You came near on the day I called to you; you said, “Do not fear!” ⁵⁸ר (Resh) O Lord, you championed my cause; you redeemed my life. ⁵⁹You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.⁶¹ש (Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me. ⁶²My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.⁶³Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs. ⁶⁴ת (Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done. ⁶⁵Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them! ⁶⁶Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the Lord’s heaven.