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I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
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He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
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Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
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He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
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He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
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He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
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He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
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Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
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He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
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He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
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He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
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He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
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He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.
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I have become the ridicule of all my people-- Their taunting song all the day.
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He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
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He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
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You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
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And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord."
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Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
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My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
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This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
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Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
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They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
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"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
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The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
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It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.
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It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
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Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him;
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Let him put his mouth in the dust-- There may yet be hope.
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Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach.
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For the Lord will not cast off forever.
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Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies.
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For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
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To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth,
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To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High,
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Or subvert a man in his cause-- The Lord does not approve.
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Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it?
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Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed?
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Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?
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Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord;
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Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven.
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We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned.
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You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and not pitied.
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You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through.
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You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.
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All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us.
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Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction.
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My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
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My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption,
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Till the Lord from heaven Looks down and sees.
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My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.
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My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird.
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They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me.
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The waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!"
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I called on Your name, O Lord, From the lowest pit.
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You have heard my voice: "Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help."
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You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, "Do not fear!"
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O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life.