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.
3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction / By the rod of His wrath.
3:2 He has driven me and brought me / Into darkness and not light.
3:3 Surely against me He has turned His hand / Again and again all the day.
3:4 He has wasted my flesh and my skin; / He has broken my bones.
3:5 He has built up a siege against me / And encircled me with gall and travail.
3:6 He has made me dwell in dark places, / Like those who have long been dead.
3:7 He has walled me about so that I cannot go forth; / He has made my bronze chain heavy.
3:8 Indeed, when I cry out and call for help, / He shuts out my prayer.
3:9 He has walled in my ways with hewn stone; / He has made my paths crooked.
3:10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, / Like a lion in hidden 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 has caused the arrows of His quiver / To enter my inward parts.
3:14 I have become a derision 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 also crushed my teeth with gravel; / He has covered me with ashes.
3:17 And You have removed my soul far from peace; / I have forgotten prosperity.
3:18 And I said, My strength has perished / As well as my hope in Jehovah.
3:19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, / The wormwood and the gall.
3:20 My soul remembers them well / And is bowed down within me.
3:21 This I recall to my heart; / Therefore I have hope.
3:22 It is Jehovah s lovingkindness that we are not consumed, / For His compassions do not fail;
3:23 They are new every morning; / Great is Your faithfulness.
3:24 Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; / Therefore I hope in Him.
3:25 Jehovah is good to those who wait on Him, / To the soul that seeks Him.
3:26 It is good for one to hope, and to do so in silence, / For the salvation of Jehovah.
3:27 It is good for a man to bear / The yoke in his youth.
3:28 Let him sit alone and be silent, / Because He has laid it upon him.
3:29 Let him put his mouth in the dust ? / Perhaps there is hope.
3:30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; / Let him be filled with reproach.
3:31 For the Lord will not / Cast off forever.
3:32 But even if He causes grief, He will have compassion / According to the multitude of His lovingkindness;
3:33 For He does not afflict willingly / Or grieve the children of men.
3:34 The crushing under his foot / Of all the prisoners of the earth,
3:35 The turning aside of the justice due a man / Before the face of the Most High,
3:36 The wronging of a man in his cause ? / Will not the Lord see all these?
3:37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, / What the Lord has not commanded?
3:38 Out of the mouth of the Most High / Do there not proceed evil things and something good?
3:39 Why does a living man complain, / A man for the punishment of his sins?
3:40 Let us examine our ways and try them, / And let us turn again to Jehovah.
3:41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands / Unto God in the heavens.
3:42 We have transgressed and rebelled; / You have not pardoned.
3:43 You have covered Yourself with anger and have pursued us; / You have slain; You have not spared.
3:44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud / That prayer might not pass through.
3:45 You have made us offscouring and refuse / In the midst of the peoples.
3:46 All our enemies have opened / Their mouths against us.
3:47 Fear and the pit are upon us, / Devastation and destruction.
3:48 My eye runs down with streams of water / For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3:49 My eye pours forth and does not stop; / There is no cessation,
3:50 Until Jehovah looks down / And sees from the heavens.
3:51 My eye pains my soul / Because of all the daughters of my city.
3:52 They have hunted me down like a bird, / They who are my enemies without cause.
3:53 They have brought my life to its end in the pit / And have thrown a stone upon me.
3:54 Water streamed over my head; / I said, I have been cut off.
3:55 I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, / From the lowest pit.
3:56 You have heard my voice; do not hide / Your ear at my breathing, at my cry.
3:57 You drew near in the day that I called upon You; / You said, Do not fear.
3:58 Lord, You have pleaded my soul s case; / You have redeemed my life.
3:59 You have seen, O Jehovah, my oppression; / Judge my cause.
3:60 You have seen all their vengeance, / All their plans, against me.
3:61 You have heard their reproach, O Jehovah, / All their plans against me,
3:62 The lips of those who rise up against me / And their meditation against me all the day.
3:63 Look upon their sitting down and their rising up; / I am their mocking song.
3:64 You will render to them a recompense, O Jehovah, / According to the work of their hands.
3:65 You will give them hardness of heart; / Your curse be upon them.
3:66 You will pursue them in anger and will destroy them / From under the heavens of Jehovah.