3:1  I proclaim myself the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

3:2  He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.

3:3  Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.

3:4  He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.

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

3:6  In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long died.

3:7  He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

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

3:9  He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.

3:10  He appears to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.

3:11  He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.

3:12  He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.

3:13  He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

3:14  I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.

3:15  He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.

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

3:17  My soul has become rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.

3:18  So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."

3:19  Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.

3:20  Surely my soul remembers And bows down within me.

3:21  This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.

3:22  The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

3:23  They renew every morning; Greatly we acknowledge Your faithfulness.

3:24  "The LORD I regard as my portion," says my soul," Therefore I have hope in Him."

3:25  The LORD proves good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

3:26  It appears good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD.

3:27  It seems good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.

3:28  Let him sit alone and remain silent Since He has laid it on him.

3:29  Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there remains hope.

3:30  Let him give his cheek to the smiter, Let him have his fill of reproach.

3:31  For the Lord will not reject forever,

3:32  For if He causes grief,Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.

3:33  For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men.

3:34  To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,

3:35  To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,

3:36  To defraud a man in his lawsuit-- Of these things the Lord does not approve.

3:37  Who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?

3:38   Does it not come from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?

3:39  Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?

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

3:41  We lift up our heart and hands Toward 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 have not spared.

3:44  You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.

3:45  You have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.

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

3:47   Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;

3:48  My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

3:49  My eyes pour down unceasingly, Without stopping,

3:50  Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven.

3:51  My eyes bring pain 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 have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.

3:54  Waters flowed over my head; I said, "I feel cut off!"

3:55  I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit.

3:56  You have heard my voice, " Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help."

3:57  You drew near when I called on You; You said, " Do not fear!"

3:58  O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause; You have redeemed my life.

3:59  O LORD, You have seen my oppression; 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 assailants and their whispering fall against me all day long.

3:63  Look on their sitting and their rising; I have become their mocking song.

3:64  You will recompense them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands.

3:65  You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will fall upon them.

3:66  You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD!