(Khet) The Lord's loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.

(Bet) He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones.

He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship.

He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago.

(Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.

He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable.

Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer.

He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate.

(Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey.

He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow.

(Alef) I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of his wrath.

(Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison.

I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long.

I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.

(He) He shot his arrows into my heart.

(Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.

They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!

So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord."

(Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust.

I continually think about this, and I am depressed.

He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness.

It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.

(Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever.

"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light.

He repeatedly attacks me, he turns his hand against me all day long.

Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

(Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the Lord is disciplining him.

Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope.

But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope:

(Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it?

(Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes -- both calamity and blessing?

Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.

(Lamed) To crush underfoot all the earth's prisoners,

For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people.

Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:

to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High,

(Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit.

You came near on the day I called to you; you said, "Do not fear!"

to defraud a person in a lawsuit -- the Lord does not approve of such things!

(Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy.

You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations.

What my eyes see grieves me -- all the suffering of the daughters in my city.

Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.

(Resh) O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life.

(Tsade) For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird.

"We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven."

(Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break

You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.

(Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us;

Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.

They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me.

(Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done.

My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.

You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!"

Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the Lord's heaven.

The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.

until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.

(Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.

Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs.

You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.

Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them!

You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!