andrewsikora.com

I have become the laughing-stock of all my people,
the object of their taunt-songs all day long.
¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness,
he has glutted me with wormwood.
¹⁶He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
¹⁷my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
¹⁸so I say, ‘Gone is my glory,
and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.’

¹⁹The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
²⁰My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
²¹But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

²²The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
his mercies never come to an end;
²³they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will hope in him.’

²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
²⁶It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
²⁸to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
²⁹to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
³⁰to give one’s cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.

³¹For the Lord will not
reject for ever.
³²Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
³³for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.