3 ^[a]I am the man who has seen affliction
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
² He has driven me away and made me walk
    in darkness rather than light;
³ indeed, he has turned his hand against me
    again and again, all day long.

⁴ He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
    and has broken my bones.
⁵ He has besieged me and surrounded me
    with bitterness and hardship.
⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness
    like those long dead.

⁷ He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
    he has weighed me down with chains.
⁸ Even when I call out or cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer.
⁹ He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
    he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ Like a bear lying in wait,
    like a lion in hiding,
¹¹ he dragged me from the path and mangled me
    and left me without help.
¹² He drew his bow
    and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³ He pierced my heart
    with arrows from his quiver.
¹⁴ I became the laughingstock of all my people;
    they mock me in song all day long.
¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter herbs
    and given me gall to drink.

¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel;
    he has trampled me in the dust.
¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace;
    I have forgotten what prosperity is.
¹⁸ So I say, “My splendor is gone
    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,
    the bitterness and the gall.
²⁰ I well remember them,
    and my soul is downcast within me.
²¹ Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke
    while he is young.

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence,
    for the Lord has laid it on him.
²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust—
    there may yet be hope.
³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
    and let him be filled with disgrace.

³¹ For no one is cast off
    by the Lord forever.
³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
    so great is his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction
    or grief to anyone.

³⁴ To crush underfoot
    all prisoners in the land,
³⁵ to deny people their rights
    before the Most High,
³⁶ to deprive them of justice—
    would not the Lord see such things?

³⁷ Who can speak and have it happen
    if the Lord has not decreed it?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
    that both calamities and good things come?
³⁹ Why should the living complain
    when punished for their sins?

⁴⁰ Let us examine our ways and test them,
    and let us return to the Lord.
⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
    to God in heaven, and say:
⁴² “We have sinned and rebelled
    and you have not forgiven.

⁴³ “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
    you have slain without pity.
⁴⁴ You have covered yourself with a cloud
    so that no prayer can get through.
⁴⁵ You have made us scum and refuse
    among the nations.

⁴⁶ “All our enemies have opened their mouths
    wide against us.
⁴⁷ We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
    ruin and destruction.”
⁴⁸ Streams of tears flow from my eyes
    because my people are destroyed.

⁴⁹ My eyes will flow unceasingly,
    without relief,
⁵⁰ until the Lord looks down
    from heaven and sees.
⁵¹ What I see brings grief to my soul
    because of all the women of my city.

⁵² Those who were my enemies without cause
    hunted me like a bird.
⁵³ They tried to end my life in a pit
    and threw stones at me;
⁵⁴ the waters closed over my head,
    and I thought I was about to perish.

⁵⁵ I called on your name, Lord,
    from the depths of the pit.
⁵⁶ You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
    to my cry for relief.”
⁵⁷ You came near when I called you,
    and you said, “Do not fear.”

⁵⁸ You, Lord, took up my case;
    you redeemed my life.
⁵⁹ Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.
    Uphold my cause!
⁶⁰ You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
    all their plots against me.

⁶¹ Lord, you have heard their insults,
    all their plots against me—
⁶² what my enemies whisper and mutter
    against me all day long.
⁶³ Look at them! Sitting or standing,
    they mock me in their songs.

⁶⁴ Pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
    for what their hands have done.
⁶⁵ Put a veil over their hearts,
    and may your curse be on them!
⁶⁶ Pursue them in anger and destroy them
    from under the heavens of the Lord.