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.