3:1  I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath.

3:2  He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;

3:3  indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.

3:4  He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.

3:5  He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.

3:6  He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.

3:7  He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.

3:8  Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.

3:9  He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.

3:10  Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,

3:11  he dragged me from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.

3:12  He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.

3:13  He pierced my heart
with arrows from his quiver.

3:14  I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.

3:15  He has filled me with bitter herbs
and sated me with gall.

3:16  He has broken my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.

3:17  I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.

3:18  So I say, "My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD."

3:19  I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

3:20  I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

3:21  Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

3:22  Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

3:23  They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

3:24  I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

3:25  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

3:26  it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

3:27  It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

3:28  Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.

3:29  Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.

3:30  Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

3:31  For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.

3:32  Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.

3:33  For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.

3:34  To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,

3:35  to deny a man his rights
before the Most High,

3:36  to deprive a man of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?

3:37  Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?

3:38  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?

3:39  Why should any living man complain
when punished for his sins?

3:40  Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the LORD.

3:41  Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:

3:42  "We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.

3:43  "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.

3:44  You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.

3:45  You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.

3:46  "All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.

3:47  We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction."

3:48  Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.

3:49  My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,

3:50  until the LORD looks down
from heaven and sees.

3:51  What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.

3:52  Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.

3:53  They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;

3:54  the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to be cut off.

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 ears
to my cry for relief."

3:57  You came near when I called you,
and you said, "Do not fear."

3:58  O Lord, you took up my case;
you redeemed my life.

3:59  You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!

3:60  You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.

3:61  O LORD, you have heard their insults,
all their plots against me-

3:62  what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.

3:63  Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.

3:64  Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,
for what their hands have done.

3:65  Put a veil over their hearts,
and may your curse be on them!

3:66  Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the LORD.