¹ I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.

² By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.

³ Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.

⁴ My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.

⁵ He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.

⁶ He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.

⁷ He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.

⁸ Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.

⁹ He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.

¹⁰ He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.

¹¹ By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.

¹² With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.

¹³ He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.

¹⁴ I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.

¹⁵ He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.

¹⁶ By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.

¹⁷ My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.

¹⁸ And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.

¹⁹ Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.

²⁰ My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.

²¹ This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.

²² It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.

²³ They are new every morning; great is your good faith.

²⁴ I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.

²⁶ It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.

²⁷ It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.

²⁸ Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.

²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.

³⁰ Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.

³¹ For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.

³² For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.

³³ For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.

³⁴ In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

³⁵ In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.

³⁶ In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.

³⁷ Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?

³⁸ Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹ What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?

⁴⁰ Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;

⁴¹ Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.

⁴² We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.

⁴³ Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;

⁴⁴ Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.

⁴⁵ You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.

⁴⁶ The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.

⁴⁷ Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.

⁴⁸ Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,

⁵⁰ Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.

⁵¹ The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.

⁵² They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;

⁵³ They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.

⁵⁴ Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.

⁵⁵ I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.

⁵⁶ My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.

⁵⁷ You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.

⁵⁸ O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.

⁵⁹ O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.

⁶⁰ You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.

⁶¹ Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;

⁶² The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.

⁶³ Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.

⁶⁴ You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵ You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.

⁶⁶ You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.

¹⁴ But I will go on ever hoping, and increasing in all your praise.

¹ Take care not to do your good works before men, to be seen by them; or you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² When then you give money to the poor, do not make a noise about it, as the false-hearted men do in the Synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Truly, I say to you, They have their reward.

³ But when you give money, let not your left hand see what your right hand does:

⁴ So that your giving may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will give you your reward.

⁵ And when you make your prayers, be not like the false-hearted men, who take pleasure in getting up and saying their prayers in the Synagogues and at the street turnings so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

⁶ But when you make your prayer, go into your private room, and, shutting the door, say a prayer to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will give you your reward.

⁷ And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words.

⁸ So be not like them; because your Father has knowledge of your needs even before you make your requests to him.

⁹ Let this then be your prayer: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

¹⁰ Let your kingdom come. Let your pleasure be done, as in heaven, so on earth.

¹¹ Give us this day bread for our needs.

¹² And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us.

¹³ And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One.

¹⁴ For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven.

¹⁵ But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins.

¹⁶ And when you go without food, be not sad-faced as the false-hearted are. For they go about with changed looks, so that men may see that they are going without food. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

¹⁷ But when you go without food, put oil on your head and make your face clean;

¹⁸ So that no one may see that you are going without food, but your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will give you your reward.

¹⁹ Make no store of wealth for yourselves on earth, where it may be turned to dust by worms and weather, and where thieves may come in by force and take it away.

²⁰ But make a store for yourselves in heaven, where it will not be turned to dust and where thieves do not come in to take it away:

²¹ For where your wealth is, there will your heart be.

²² The light of the body is the eye; if then your eye is true, all your body will be full of light.

²³ But if your eye is evil, all your body will be dark. If then the light which is in you is dark, how dark it will be!

²⁴ No man is able to be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other, or he will keep to one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.

²⁵ So I say to you, Take no thought for your life, about food or drink, or about clothing for your body. Is not life more than food, and the body more than its clothing?

²⁶ See the birds of heaven; they do not put seeds in the earth, they do not get in grain, or put it in store-houses; and your Father in heaven gives them food. Are you not of much more value than they?

²⁷ And which of you by taking thought is able to make himself a cubit taller?

²⁸ And why are you troubled about clothing? See the flowers of the field, how they come up; they do no work, they make no thread:

²⁹ But I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

³⁰ But if God gives such clothing to the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is put into the oven, will he not much more give you clothing, O you of little faith?

³¹ Then do not be full of care, saying, What are we to have for food or drink? or, With what may we be clothed?

³² Because the Gentiles go in search of all these things: for your Father in heaven has knowledge that you have need of all these things:

³³ But let your first care be for his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these other things will be given to you in addition.

³⁴ Then have no care for tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Take the trouble of the day as it comes.