| 3:1 | The Prophet's Anguish and HopeHope and Relief Through God's Mercy I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. |
| 3:2 | He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. |
| 3:3 | Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day. |
| 3:4 | He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones. |
| 3:5 | He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe. |
| 3:6 | He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago. |
| 3:7 | He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy. |
| 3:8 | Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. |
| 3:9 | He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. |
| 3:10 | He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush. |
| 3:11 | He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate. |
| 3:12 | He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow. |
| 3:13 | He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins. |
| 3:14 | I have become the ridicule of all my people-- Their taunting song all the day. |
| 3:15 | He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood. |
| 3:16 | He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes. |
| 3:17 | You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. |
| 3:18 | And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD." |
| 3:19 | Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. |
| 3:20 | My soul still remembers And sinks within me. |
| 3:21 | This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. |
| 3:22 | Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. |
| 3:23 | They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. |
| 3:24 | The LORD is my portion, says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" |
| 3:25 | The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. |
| 3:26 | It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD. |
| 3:27 | It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. |
| 3:28 | Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God 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 one who strikes him, And be full of reproach. |
| 3:31 | For the Lord will not cast off forever. |
| 3:32 | Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. |
| 3:33 | For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men. |
| 3:34 | To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth, |
| 3:35 | To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High, |
| 3:36 | Or subvert a man in his cause-- The Lord does not approve. |
| 3:37 | Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it? |
| 3:38 | Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed? |
| 3:39 | Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins? |
| 3:40 | Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD; |
| 3:41 | Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven. |
| 3:42 | We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned. |
| 3:43 | You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and not pitied. |
| 3:44 | You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through. |
| 3:45 | You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples. |
| 3:46 | All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us. |
| 3:47 | Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction. |
| 3:48 | My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
| 3:49 | My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption, |
| 3:50 | Till the LORD from heaven Looks down and sees. |
| 3:51 | My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. |
| 3:52 | My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird. |
| 3:53 | They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me. |
| 3:54 | The waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!" |
| 3:55 | I called on Your name, O LORD, From the lowest pit. |
| 3:56 | You have heard my voice: "Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help." |
| 3:57 | You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, "Do not fear!" |
| 3:58 | O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life. |
| 3:59 | O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; Judge my case. |
| 3:60 | You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. |
| 3:61 | You have heard their reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me, |
| 3:62 | The lips of my enemies And their whispering against me all the day. |
| 3:63 | Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song. |
| 3:64 | Repay them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. |
| 3:65 | Give them a veiled heart; Your curse be upon them! |
| 3:66 | In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD. |