[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!”