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3:1 I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath; 3:2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; 3:3 against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all 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 sit 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 a bear lying in wait for me, 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 shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver; 3:14 I have become the laughingstock of all my people, the object of their taunt-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 all that I had hoped for from the LORD." 3:19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and 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 your 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 one to bear the yoke in youth, 3:28 to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, 3:29 to put one's mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), 3:30 to give one's cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. 3:31 For the Lord will not reject forever. 3:32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 3:33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone. 3:34 When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot, 3:35 when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High, 3:36 when one's case is subverted-- does the Lord not see it? 3:37 Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it? 3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? 3:39 Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins? 3:40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD. 3:41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven. 3:42 We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. 3:43 You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity; 3:44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. 3:45 You have made us filth and rubbish among the peoples. 3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouths 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 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 young women in my city. 3:52 Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird; 3:53 they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me; 3:54 water closed over my head; I said, "I am lost." 3:55 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; 3:56 you heard my plea, "Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!" 3:57 You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!" 3:58 You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life. 3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause. 3:60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me. 3:61 You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me. 3:62 The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long. 3:63 Whether they sit or rise-- see, I am the object of their taunt-songs. 3:64 Pay them back for their deeds, O LORD, according to the work of their hands! 3:65 Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them! 3:66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the LORD's heavens.