3 7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me; 3 8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; 3 9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
3 10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding; 3 11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; 3 12 he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.
3 13 He drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver; 3 14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long. 3 15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
3 16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; 3 17 my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; 3 18 so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from Yahweh."
3 19 Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall! 3 20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. 3 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
3 22 The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 3 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 3 24 "Yahweh is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
3 25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. 3 26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of Yahweh. 3 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
3 28 Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him; 3 29 let him put his mouth in the dust - there may yet be hope; 3 30 let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
3 31 For Yahweh will not cast off for ever, 3 32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 3 33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
3 34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, 3 35 to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High, 3 36 to subvert a man in his cause, Yahweh does not approve.
3 37 Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless Yahweh has ordained it? 3 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come? 3 39 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
3 40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to Yahweh! 3 41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: 3 42 "We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
3 43 "You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity; 3 44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. 3 45 You have made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples.
3 46 "All our enemies rail against us; 3 47 panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; 3 48 my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3 49 "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, 3 50 until Yahweh from heaven looks down and sees; 3 51 my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city.
3 52 "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; 3 53 they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; 3 54 water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost.'
3 55 "I called on your name, O Yahweh, from the depths of the pit; 3 56 you heard my plea, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help! 3 57 You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!
3 58 "You have taken up my cause, O Yahweh, you have redeemed my life. 3 59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Yahweh; judge my cause. 3 60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
3 61 "You have heard their taunts, O Yahweh, all their devices against me. 3 62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long. 3 63 Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the burden of their songs.
3 64 "You will requite them, O Yahweh, according to the work of their hands. 3 65 You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them. 3 66 You will persue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Yahweh."