<p>1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.</p><p>2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;</p><p>3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.</p><p>4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.</p><p>5 He has besidged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.</p><p>6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.</p><p>7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.</p><p>8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.</p><p>9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.</p><p>10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,</p><p>11 he dragged me form the path and mangled me and left me without help.</p><p>12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.</p><p>13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.</p><p>14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.</p><p>15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.</p><p>16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.</p><p>17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.</p><p>18 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD."</p><p>19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.</p><p>20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.</p><p>21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:</p><p>22 Because of the LORD'S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.</p><p>23 They are new every morning; great is your faighfulness.</p><p>24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."</p><p>25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;</p><p>26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.</p><p>27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.</p><p>28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.</p><p>29 Let him bury his face in the dust--there may yet be hope.</p><p>30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.</p><p>31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.</p><p>32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.</p><p>33 For he does not willing bring affiction or grief to the children of men.</p><p>34 To cruch underfoot all prisoner in the land,</p><p>35 to deny a man his rights before the Most High,</p><p>36 to deprive a man of justice--would not the Lord see such things?</p><p>37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?</p><p>38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?</p><p>39 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?</p><p>40 Let us examine our ways and test them,, and let us ruturn to the LORD.</p><p>41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:</p><p>42 "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.</p><p>43 "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.</p><p>44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get throuogh.</p><p>45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.</p><p>46 "All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.</p><p>47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction."</p><p>48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.</p><p>49 My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,</p><p>50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.</p><p>51 What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.</p><p>52 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.</p><p>53 They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;</p><p>54 the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off.</p><p>55 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit.</p><p>56 You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief."</p><p>57 You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."</p><p>58 O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life.</p><p>59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my casue!</p><p>60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.</p><p>61 O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots agaisnt me--</p><p>62 What my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.</p><p>63 Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.</p><p>64 Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done.</p><p>65 Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!</p><p>66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.</p>
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