3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
3:2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3:3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
3:4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
3:5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
3:6 he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
3:7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
3:8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
3:9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
3:10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding;
3:11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
3:12 he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.
3:13 He drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver;
3:14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long.
3:15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
3:16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
3:17 my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;
3:18 so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD."
3:19 Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!
3:20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
3:22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
3:23 they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
3:24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
3:26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
3:27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
3:28 Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him;
3:29 let him put his mouth in the dust -- there may yet be hope;
3:30 let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
3:31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever,
3:32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
3:33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
3:34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
3:35 to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High,
3:36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.
3:37 Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?
3:39 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
3:40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!
3:41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
3:42 "We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven.
3:43 "Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity;
3:44 thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
3:45 Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples.
3:46 "All our enemies rail against us;
3:47 panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction;
3:48 my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3:49 "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,
3:50 until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees;
3:51 my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city.
3:52 "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;
3:53 they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;
3:54 water closed over my head; I said, `I am lost.'
3:55 "I called on thy name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;
3:56 thou didst hear my plea, `Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!'
3:57 Thou didst come near when I called on thee; thou didst say, `Do not fear!'
3:58 "Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life.
3:59 Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge thou my cause.
3:60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
3:61 "Thou hast heard their taunts, O LORD, all their devices against me.
3:62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.
3:63 Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the burden of their songs.
3:64 "Thou wilt requite them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
3:65 Thou wilt give them dullness of heart; thy curse will be on them.
3:66 Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them from under thy heavens, O LORD."
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