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