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