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."