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3:1  I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.
3:2  He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness
3:3  And beat me again and again with merciless blows.
3:4  He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.
3:5  He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.
3:6  He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.
3:7  He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.
3:8  I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;
3:9  I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.
3:10  He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.
3:11  He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.
3:12  He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
3:13  He shot his arrows deep into my body.
3:14  People laugh at me all day long; I am a joke to them all.
3:15  Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.
3:16  He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on rocks.
3:17  I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.
3:18  I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the Lord is gone.
3:19  The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.
3:20  I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.
3:21  Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:
3:22  The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue,
3:23  Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.
3:24  The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
3:25  The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him,
3:26  So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us—
3:27  And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.
3:28  When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience;
3:29  We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope.
3:30  Though beaten and insulted, we should accept it all.
3:31  The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever.
3:32  He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.
3:33  He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.
3:34  The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison;
3:35  He knows when we are denied the rights he gave us;
3:36  When justice is perverted in court, he knows.
3:37  The will of the Lord alone is always carried out.
3:38  Good and evil alike take place at his command.
3:39  Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?
3:40  Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord.
3:41  Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,
3:42  “We have sinned and rebelled, and you, O Lord, have not forgiven us.
3:43  “You pursued us and killed us; your mercy was hidden by your anger,
3:44  By a cloud of fury too thick for our prayers to get through.
3:45  You have made us the garbage dump of the world.
3:46  “We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies.
3:47  We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear.
3:48  My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people.
3:49  “My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream
3:50  Until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees us.
3:51  My heart is grieved when I see what has happened to the women of the city.
3:52  “I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.
3:53  They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.
3:54  Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.
3:55  “From the bottom of the pit, O Lord, I cried out to you,
3:56  And when I begged you to listen to my cry, you heard.
3:57  You answered me and told me not to be afraid.
3:58  “You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.
3:59  Judge in my favor; you know the wrongs done against me.
3:60  You know how my enemies hate me and how they plot against me.
3:61  “You have heard them insult me, O Lord; you know all their plots.
3:62  All day long they talk about me and make their plans.
3:63  From morning till night they make fun of me.
3:64  “Punish them for what they have done, O Lord;
3:65  Curse them and fill them with despair!
3:66  Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!”