The Qumran Community · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[...] darkness [...]
[...] [he shone] for strife in the night and in [...]
[...] there is no compassion [...] in anger he stirs up jealousy and to destroy [...]
The breakers of death and Sheol are upon my couch [...] my bed rises in lamentation, and [my resting place] with a voice of groaning [...]
My eyes are like a moth in the furnace, and my tears like streams of water [...] my eyes fail from rest, and [my stronghold] stood for me
from afar, and my life from the side [...] and I go from crash to crash, and from pain to affliction, and from pangs
to breakers my soul is bowed low; in your wonders [...] and you did not abandon me in your mercies [...] from age
to age you set delight for my soul in the abundance of your mercies [...] and I will return a word to those who would swallow me
and to those who gloat over me, rebuke [...] and I will condemn his judgment, and your judgment I will justify [...] for I know
in your truth [...] and I have chosen my judgment, and in my afflictions I have taken delight, for I have hoped for your mercies [...] and you will give
supplication in the mouth of your servant [...] and you did not rebuke my life, and my peace you did not abandon [...] and you did not forsake
my hope [...] and before affliction you set my spirit firm [...] for you established my spirit, and you knew my purpose [...]
and in my distresses you comforted me, and in forgiveness I take delight [...] and I find comfort concerning former transgression [...]
and I know [that] there is hope in your mercies, and expectation in the abundance of your strength [...] for none is justified
at all in your judgment, and none [shall be acquitted] in your dispute [...] man is more righteous than man, and one more upright than his fellow
is wiser, and flesh more than a creature [...] is honored, and spirit prevails over spirit [...] and like your might there is none
in power [...] and to your glory there is no [...] [and] to your wisdom there is no measure, and to [your truth] [...] [...]
and to all that is forsaken from it [...] and I in you [have set] [my hand] [and] [in] [your mercy]
my standing, and they did not [...] against the men of my dispute [...]
and as they devised against me [...] and if for shame of face, all [...] in it
for me [...] and you [...] my adversary prevails over me as a stumbling block for [...] [for] [all]
the men [of my war] [and] [to] [the masters] [of my dispute], [shame] of face and disgrace to those who murmur against me [...]
for you are my God for [an appointed time] [...] you will plead my cause [...] for by the mystery of your wisdom you have reproved me [...]
and you have hidden truth until the appointed time [...] its appointed time [...] and your rebuke has become for me joy and gladness
and my afflictions have become [everlasting] healing [and] eternal [peace] [...] and the scorn of my adversary has become for me a crown of glory, and my stumbling a might
everlasting [...] for by [your insight] [you have made known to me], and by your glory my light has shone [...] for from light out of darkness
you have caused it to shine for [...] [to] [heal] my wound, and to my stumbling a wondrous strength, and a broad space
everlasting, in the distress of my soul [...] for [you are] [my deliverer], my refuge, my stronghold, the rock of my strength, and my fortress [...] in you
I take refuge from all the pain of [my soul] [...] [you have saved] me for deliverance forever [...] for you, from my father
you knew me, and from the womb [you sanctified me], [and] [from] [the belly] of my mother you dealt bountifully with me [...] and from the breasts you showed me your mercies
[...] to me [...] and in the bosom of my nurse, the abundance of [your mercies], and from my youth you have appeared to me with insight into your judgment [...]
and in truth firmly you have sustained me, and by your holy spirit you have delighted me, and until this day [you] guide me [...]
and your righteous rebuke is with [my perversity], and the keeping of your peace is for the deliverance of my soul [...] and with my steps
abundant forgiveness and a multitude of mercies, in your judging of me [...] and until old age you sustain me [...] for
my father did not know me, and my mother, upon you she abandoned me [...] for you are a father to all the sons of your truth, and you rejoice
over them like one who has compassion on her infant [...] and like a nurse in the bosom you sustain all your works [...]
[Blessed] [are you] [O Lord] [...] to [...] you have magnified until without number
[...] [and] [to] [praise] your name in wonder [exceedingly]
[...] [to] [without] end you have caused to turn back [...]
[...] [and] [according] [to] his insight he shall praise [your name] [...]