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! |