The Qumran Community · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[...] and I was struck dumb by [their disasters] [...] these [...] and they reviled me
[...] [an arm] broken from its stalks, and my feet sink in the mire [...] my eyes turned away from seeing
evil, and my ears from hearing of bloodshed [...] my heart was stunned by the thought of evil [...] for Belial, when the inclination
of their disasters appears [...] and all the foundations of my structure shake [...] and my bones come apart, and my inward parts are upon me like a ship in a raging
storm [...] and my heart moans to destruction [...] and a spirit of confusion swallows me because of the disasters of their transgression [...]
I thank you, O Lord, for you have sustained me by your strength, and
your holy spirit you have poured out within me so that I do not stumble [...] and you have strengthened me before the battles of wickedness, and in all their disasters
you did not let me be dismayed from your covenant [...] and you have made me like a strong tower, like a lofty wall [...] and you have established upon a rock
my structure, and eternal foundations for my base [...] and all my walls as a tested wall, that it will not be shaken [...]
And you, my God, have set me among the peoples for the council of holiness [...] and [you have strengthened me] in your covenant, and my tongue like your disciples [...]
and there is no mouth for the spirit of destruction, and no answer of tongue for all the sons of guilt [...] for the lips will be struck dumb of
lips of falsehood [...] for all who assail me you will condemn in judgment, to distinguish through me between the righteous and the wicked [...]
for you know every inclination of deed, and every answer of tongue you have discerned [...] and you have established my heart
like [your teachings], and like your truth, to make my steps straight upon the paths of righteousness, to walk before you within the boundary of
[life], upon the paths of glory and life and peace, without [turning aside], [and] [not] to cease forever [...]
And you know the inclination of your servant, for not... [...] his support, to lift up [his heart]
and to grow strong in power [...] and I have no refuge of flesh [...] I have no righteous deeds by which to be delivered from
without forgiveness [...] but I have leaned upon the abundance of [your mercies], and for [the multitude] of your kindness I hope, to look forth
like a planting, and to make a shoot grow strong in power, and to [...] [for] [by] your righteousness you have set me up
in your covenant, and I hold fast to your truth [...] and you [...] and you have made me a father to the sons of kindness
and like a nurse to men of a sign [...] and they open their mouth like [a suckling child] [...] and like a child delighted in the lap of
his nurses [...] and you have raised my horn above all who despise me, and [all] [the remnant] of the men of my war [will be scattered] [...] and the masters of
my quarrel are like chaff before the wind [...] and my dominion over those who despise me [...] for [you], my God, have helped my soul, and you have raised my horn
on high [...] and I have shone forth with sevenfold light in [...] [you have established] for your glory [...]
for you are to me an eternal light, and you have established my feet on [level ground] [...]
[I thank you], [O Lord], for you have given me insight in your truth
and in your wondrous mysteries you have made known to me, and by your kindnesses toward a man of [transgression], and by the abundance of your mercies toward the perverse of heart [...]
For who is like you among the gods, O Lord [...] and who is like your truth [...] and who can be justified before you when he is judged [...] and there is none
who can answer against your rebuke, all who are dyed with spirit, and none can stand before your wisdom [...] and all the sons of
your truth you bring in forgivenesses before you, to purify them from their transgressions by the abundance of your goodness and by the multitude of your mercies
to set them before you for everlasting ages [...] for you are an eternal God, and all your ways are established forever
and everlasting, and there is none besides you [...] and what is a man of nothingness and a possessor of vanity, to understand your wondrous works
the great ones [...]
I thank you, O Lord, for you have not cast my lot in the congregation of falsehood, and in the council of the hidden ones you have not set my portion [...]
and you have called me to your kindnesses, and to [your forgivenesses] [you have brought me], and by the multitude of your mercies to all the judgments of
[righteousness] [...] [and] [I] [am] [a] [man] [of] [impurity], [and] [from] [the] [womb] [I] [was] [conceived] [in] [guilt] [of] [transgression], [and] [from] [the] [breasts] [of] [my] [mother] in iniquity, and in the bosom of
[my] [nurse] [in] [much] [impurity], [and] [from] [my] [youth] [in] [blood], [and] [until] [old] [age] [in] [the] [iniquity] [of] [flesh] [...] [and] [you], my God
[you have established] [my] [feet] [in] [the] [way] [of] [your] [heart] [...] [and] [to] [the] [reports] [of] [your] [wonders] [you have opened] [my] [ear], and my heart to understand your truth [...]