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3:1  I am someone who saw the suffering caused by God’s angry rod.
3:2  He drove me away, forced me to walk in darkness, not light.
3:3  He turned his hand even against me, over and over again, all day long.
3:4  He wore out my flesh and my skin; he broke my bones.
3:5  He besieged me, surrounding me with bitterness and weariness.
3:6  He made me live in dark places like those who’ve been dead a long time.
3:7  He walled me in so I couldn’t escape; he made my chains heavy.
3:8  Even though I call out and cry for help, he silences my prayer.
3:9  He walled in my paths with stonework; he made my routes crooked.
3:10  He is a bear lurking for me, a lion in hiding.
3:11  He took me from my path and tore me apart; he made me desolate.
3:12  He drew back his bow, made me a shooting target for arrows.
3:13  He shot the arrows of his quiver into my inside parts.
3:14  I have become a joke to all my people, the object of their song of ridicule all day long.
3:15  He saturated me with grief, made me choke on bitterness.
3:16  He crushed my teeth into the gravel; he pressed me down into the ashes.
3:17  I’ve rejected peace; I’ve forgotten what is good.
3:18  I thought: My future is gone, as well as my hope from the Lord.
3:19  The memory of my suffering and homelessness is bitterness and poison.
3:20  I can’t help but remember and am depressed.
3:21  I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait.
3:22  Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!
3:23  They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
3:24  I think: The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.
3:25  The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the person who seeks him.
3:26  It’s good to wait in silence for the Lord’s deliverance.
3:27  It’s good for a man to carry a yoke in his youth.
3:28  He should sit alone and be silent when God lays it on him.
3:29  He should put his mouth in the dirt—perhaps there is hope.
3:30  He should offer his cheek for a blow; he should be filled with shame.
3:31  My Lord definitely won’t reject forever.
3:32  Although he has caused grief, he will show compassion in measure with his covenant loyalty.
3:33  He definitely doesn’t enjoy affliction, making humans suffer.
3:34  Now crushing underfoot all the earth’s prisoners,
3:35  denying someone justice before the Most High,
3:36  subverting a person’s lawsuit—doesn’t my Lord see all this?
3:37  Who ever spoke and it happened if my Lord hadn’t commanded the same?
3:38  From the mouth of the Most High evil things don’t come, but rather good!
3:39  Why then does any living person complain; why should anyone complain about their sins?
3:40  We must search and examine our ways; we must return to the Lord.
3:41  We should lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
3:42  We are the ones who did wrong; we rebelled. But you, God, have not forgiven.
3:43  You wrapped yourself up in wrath and hunted us; you killed, showing no compassion.
3:44  You wrapped yourself up in a cloud; prayers can’t make it through!
3:45  You made us trash and garbage in front of all other people.
3:46  All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
3:47  Terror and trap have come upon us, catastrophe and collapse!
3:48  Streams of water pour from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3:49  My eyes flow and don’t stop. There is no relief
3:50  until the Lord looks down from the heavens and notices.
3:51  My eyes hurt me because of what’s happened to my city’s daughters.
3:52  My enemies hunted me down like a bird, relentlessly, for no reason.
3:53  They caught me alive in a pit and threw stones at me;
3:54  water flowed over my head. I thought: I’m finished.
3:55  I call on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit.
3:56  Hear my voice. Don’t close your ear to my need for relief, to my cry for help.
3:57  Come near to me on the day I call to you. Say to me, “Don’t be afraid.”
3:58  My Lord! Plead my desperate case; redeem my life.
3:59  Lord, look at my mistreatment; judge my cause.
3:60  Look at all of my enemies’ vengeance, all of their scheming against me.
3:61  Hear their jeering, Lord, all of their scheming against me,
3:62  the speech of those who rise up against me, their incessant gossiping about me.
3:63  Whether sitting or standing, look at how I am the object of their song of ridicule.
3:64  Pay them back fully, Lord, according to what they have done.
3:65  Give them a tortured mind—put your curse on them!
3:66  Angrily hunt them down; wipe them out from under the Lord’s heaven.