1I 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, each 3–verse stanza beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. am the man who has seen affliction
2He has driven me away and made me walk
3Indeed, He keeps turning His hand
4He has worn away my flesh and skin;
5He has besieged me and surrounded me
6He has made me dwell in darkness
7He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
8Even when I cry out and plead for help,
9He has barred my ways with cut stones;
10He is a bear lying in wait,
11He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces;
12He bent His bow
13He pierced my kidneys
14I am a laughingstock to all my people;
15He has filled me with bitterness;
16He has ground my teeth with gravel
17My soul has been deprived of peace;
18So I say, “My strength has perished,
19Remember my affliction and wandering,
20Surely my soul remembers
21Yet I call this to mind,
22Because of the loving devotion 3:22 Forms of the Hebrew chesed are translated here and in most cases throughout the Scriptures as loving devotion; the range of meaning includes love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and mercy, as well as loyalty to a covenant. of the LORD we are not consumed,
23They are new every morning;
24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
26It is good to wait quietly
27It is good for a man to bear the yoke
28Let him sit alone in silence,
29Let him bury his face in the dust—
30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him;
31For the Lord will not
32Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion
33For He does not willingly afflict
34To crush underfoot
35to deny a man justice
36to subvert a man in his lawsuit—
37Who has spoken and it came to pass,
38Do not both adversity and good
39Why should any mortal man complain,
40Let us examine and test our ways,
41Let us lift up our hearts and hands
42“We have sinned and rebelled;
43You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;
44You have covered Yourself with a cloud
45You have made us scum and refuse
46All our enemies
47Panic and pitfall have come upon us—
48Streams of tears flow from my eyes
49My eyes overflow unceasingly,
50until the LORD
51My eyes bring grief to my soul
52Without cause my enemies
53They dropped me alive into a pit
54The waters flowed over my head,
55I called on Your name, O LORD,
56You heard my plea:
57You drew near when I called on You;
58You defend my cause, O Lord;
59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me;
60You have seen all their malice,
61O LORD, You have heard their insults,
62the slander and murmuring of my assailants
63When they sit and when they rise,
64You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,
65Put a veil of anguish over their hearts;
66You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them