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I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD’s wrath.
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He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
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indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
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He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
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He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
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He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
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He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
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Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
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He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
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Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
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he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
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He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
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He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
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I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
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He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.
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He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
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I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
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So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.”
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I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
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I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
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Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
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Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
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They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
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I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
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The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
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it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
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It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
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Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
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Let him bury his face in the dust – there may yet be hope.
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Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
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For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
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Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
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For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
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To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
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to deny people their rights before the Most HIGH,
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to deprive them of justice – would not the Lord see such things?
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Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
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Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
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Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?
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Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
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Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
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“We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
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“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.
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You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
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You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
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“All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.
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We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.
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Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
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My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,
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until the LORD looks down from heaven and seas.
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What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.
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Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.
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They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;
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the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.
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I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit.
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You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”
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You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear!”
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You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.
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LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!
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You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.
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LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me -
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what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.
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Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.
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Pay them back what they deserve, LORD, for what their hands have done.
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Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them.
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Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.