Chapter 3

  I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.  

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  By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.  

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  Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.  

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  My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.  

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  He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.  

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  He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.  

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  He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.  

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  Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.  

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  He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.  

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  He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.  

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  By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.  

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  With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.  

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  He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.  

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  I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.  

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  He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.  

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  By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.  

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  My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.  

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  And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.  

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  Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.  

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  My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.  

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  This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.  

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  It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.  

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  They are new every morning; great is your good faith.  

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  I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.  

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  The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.  

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  It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.  

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  It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.  

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  Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.  

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  Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.  

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  Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.  

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  For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.  

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  For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.  

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  For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.  

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  In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,  

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  In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.  

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  In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.  

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  Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?  

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  Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?  

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  What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?  

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  Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;  

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  Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.  

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  We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.  

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  Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;  

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  Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.  

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  You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.  

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  The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.  

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  Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.  

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  Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.  

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  My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,  

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  Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.  

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  The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.  

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  They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;  

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  They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.  

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  Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.  

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  I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.  

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  My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.  

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  You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.  

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  O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.  

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  O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.  

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  You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.  

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  Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;  

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  The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.  

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  Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.  

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  You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.  

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  You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.  

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  You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.  

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