31I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.+2By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.+3Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.+4My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.+5He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.+6He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.+7He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.+8Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.+9He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.+10He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.+11By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.+12With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.+13He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.+14I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.+15He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.+16By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.+17My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.+18And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.+
The Prophet’s Hope
19Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.+20My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.+21This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.+22It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.+23They are new every morning; great is your good faith.+24I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.+25The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.+26It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.+27It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.+28Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.+29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.+30Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.+31For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.+32For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.+33For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.+34In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,+35In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.+36In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.+
God’s Justice
37Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?+38Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?+39What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?+40Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;+41Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.+42We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.+43Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;+44Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.+45You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.+46The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.+47Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.+48Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.+49My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,+50Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.+51The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.+52They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;+53They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.+54Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.+55I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.+56My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.+57You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.+58O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.+59O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.+60You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.+61Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;+62The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.+63Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.+64You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.+65You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.+66You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.+
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