The Tanach, with the evidence built in
This is the complete Hebrew Bible in the Jewish Publication Society translation. Wherever a real archaeological find bears on the text, those words are underlined in gold✦. Hover over them or tap them to see the artifact and what it confirms. From there, Next find takes you to the next underline, so you can tour a whole book’s evidence, and the share button turns the verse into an image.
Each chapter lists its finds under its title, and the chapter picker shows how many finds every book and chapter has. The AA button sets the text size, light or dark, and English, Hebrew, or the two together.
Chapter 3
1I am the man who has known afflictionUnder the rod of His wrath;
2Me He drove on and onIn unrelieved darkness;
3On none but me He brings down His handAgain and again, without cease.
4He has worn away my flesh and skin;He has shattered my bones.
5All around me He has builtMisery and hardship;
6He has made me dwell in darkness,Like those long dead.
7He has walled me in and I cannot break out;He has weighed me down with chains.
8And when I cry and plead,He shuts out my prayer;
9He has walled in my ways with hewn blocks,He has made my paths a maze.
10He is a lurking bear to me,A lion in hiding;
11He has forced me off my way and mangled me,He has left me numb.
12He has bent His bow and made meThe target of His arrows:
13He has shot into my vitalsThe shafts of His quiver.
14I have become a laughingstock to all people,The butt of their gibes all day long.
15He has filled me with bitterness,Sated me with wormwood.
16He has broken my teeth on gravel,Has ground me into the dust.
17My life was bereft of peace,I forgot what happiness was.
18I thought my strength and hopeHad perished before the LORD.
19To recall my distress and my miseryWas wormwood and poison;
20Whenever I thought of them,I was bowed low.
21But this do I call to mind,Therefore I have hope:
22The kindness of the LORD has not ended,His mercies are not spent.
23They are renewed every morning—Ample is Your grace!
24“The LORD is my portion,” I say with full heart;Therefore will I hope in Him.
25The LORD is good to those who trust in Him,To the one who seeks Him;
26It is good to wait patientlyTill rescue comes from the LORD.
27It is good for a man, when young,To bear a yoke;
28Let him sit alone and be patient,When He has laid it upon him.
29Let him put his mouth to the dust—There may yet be hope.
30Let him offer his cheek to the smiter;Let him be surfeited with mockery.
31For the Lord does notReject forever,
32But first afflicts, then pardonsIn His abundant kindness.
33For He does not willfully bring griefOr affliction to man,
34Crushing under His feetAll the prisoners of the earth.
35To deny a man his rightsIn the presence of the Most High,
36To wrong a man in his cause—This the Lord does not choose.
37Whose decree was ever fulfilled,Unless the Lord willed it?
38Is it not at the word of the Most High,That weal and woe befall?
39Of what shall a living man complain?Each one of his own sins!
40Let us search and examine our ways,And turn back to the LORD;
41Let us lift up our hearts with our handsTo God in heaven:
42We have transgressed and rebelled,And You have not forgiven.
43You have clothed Yourself in anger and pursued us,You have slain without pity.
44You have screened Yourself off with a cloud,That no prayer may pass through.
45You have made us filth and refuseIn the midst of the peoples.
46All our enemies loudlyRail against us.
47Panic and pitfall are our lot,Death and destruction.
48My eyes shed streams of waterOver the ruin of my poor people.
49My eyes shall flow without cease,Without respite,
50Until the LORD looks downAnd beholds from heaven.
51My eyes have brought me griefOver all the maidens of my city.
52My foes have snared me like a bird,Without any cause.
53They have ended my life in a pitAnd cast stones at me.
54Waters flowed over my head;I said: I am lost!
55I have called on Your name, O LORD,From the depths of the Pit.
56Hear my plea;Do not shut Your earTo my groan, to my cry!
57You have ever drawn nigh when I called You;You have said, “Do not fear!”
58You championed my cause, O Lord,You have redeemed my life.
59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done me;Oh, vindicate my right!
60You have seen all their malice,All their designs against me;
61You have heard, O LORD, their taunts,All their designs against me,
62The mouthings and pratings of my adversariesAgainst me all day long.
63See how, at their ease or at work,I am the butt of their gibes.
64Give them, O LORD, their desertsAccording to their deeds.
65Give them anguish of heart;Your curse be upon them!
66Oh, pursue them in wrath and destroy themFrom under the heavens of the LORD!
Translation: Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Jewish Publication Society, 1985), via Sefaria, used under CC BY-NC.
Paragraph divisions follow the Masoretic text (Miqra according to the Masorah, CC BY-SA).