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." |