|
Chapter 3 |
| 1 |
I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. |
| 2 | He hath led me, and brought me into
darkness, but not into light. |
| 3
| Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the
day. |
| 4 | My flesh and my
skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. |
|
5 | He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall
and travail. |
| 6 | He hath
set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. |
|
7 | He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he
hath made my chain heavy. |
| 8 |
Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. |
| 9 | He hath inclosed my ways with hewn
stone, he hath made my paths crooked. |
| 10 | He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion
in secret places. |
| 11 | He
hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me
desolate. |
| 12 | He hath
bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. |
|
13 | He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter
into my reins. |
| 14 | I was
a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. |
| 15 | He hath filled me with bitterness, he
hath made me drunken with wormwood. |
|
16 | He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered
me with ashes. |
| 17 | And
thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. |
| 18 | And I said, My strength and my
hope is perished from the LORD: |
|
19 | Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the
gall. |
| 20 | My soul hath
them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. |
|
21 | This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. |
| 22 | It is of the LORD's
mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. |
| 23 | They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness. |
| 24
| The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in
him. |
| 25 | The LORD is good
unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. |
| 26 | It is good that a man should both hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. |
|
27 | It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his
youth. |
| 28 | He sitteth
alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. |
| 29 | He putteth his mouth in the dust; if
so be there may be hope. |
| 30 |
He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with
reproach. |
| 31 | For the
LORD will not cast off for ever: |
|
32 | But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according
to the multitude of his mercies. |
|
33 | For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of
men. |
| 34 | To crush under
his feet all the prisoners of the earth. |
| 35 | To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the
most High, |
| 36 | To subvert
a man in his cause, the LORD approveth not. |
| 37 | Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the
Lord commandeth it not? |
| 38 |
Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? |
| 39 | Wherefore doth a living man
complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? |
|
40 | Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to
the LORD. |
| 41 | Let us lift
up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. |
| 42 | We have transgressed and have
rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. |
|
43 | Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast
slain, thou hast not pitied. |
| 44
| Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not
pass through. |
| 45 | Thou
hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. |
| 46 | All our enemies have opened
their mouths against us. |
| 47 |
Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. |
| 48 | Mine eye runneth down with rivers
of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
| 49 | Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth
not, without any intermission. |
| 50
| Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. |
| 51 | Mine eye affecteth mine heart because
of all the daughters of my city. |
|
52 | Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. |
| 53 | They have cut off my life
in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. |
| 54 | Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut
off. |
| 55 | I called upon
thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. |
| 56 | Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my
breathing, at my cry. |
| 57 |
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear
not. |
| 58 | O LORD, thou
hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. |
| 59 | O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong:
judge thou my cause. |
| 60 |
Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. |
| 61 | Thou hast heard their
reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me; |
| 62 | The lips of those that rose up against
me, and their device against me all the day. |
| 63 | Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am
their musick. |
| 64 | Render
unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. |
| 65 | Give them sorrow of heart, thy
curse unto them. |
| 66 |
Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD. |
