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I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
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He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness and not in light.
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Surely against me He turneth His hand again and again all the day.
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My flesh and my skin hath He worn out;
He hath broken my bones.
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He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
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He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
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He hath hedged me about, that I cannot go forth;
He hath made my chain heavy.
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Yea, when I cry and call for help, He shutteth out my prayer.
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He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked.
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He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
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He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces;
He hath made me desolate.
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He hath bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
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He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins.
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I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
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He hath filled me with bitterness, He hath sated me with wormwood.
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He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, He hath made me to wallow in ashes.
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And my soul is removed far off from peace, I forgot prosperity.
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And I said: "My strength is perished, and mine expectation from the LORD."
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Remember mine affliction and mine anguish, the wormwood and the gall.
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My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.
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This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
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Surely the LORD"S mercies are not consumed, surely His compassions fail not.
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They are new every morning;
great is Thy faithfulness.
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"The LORD is my portion", saith my soul;
"Therefore will I hope in Him."
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The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.
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It is good that a man should quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
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It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
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Let him sit alone and keep silence, because He hath laid it upon him.
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Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
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Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him let him be filled full with reproach.
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For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
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For though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.
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For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
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To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
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To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
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To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
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Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
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Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good?
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Wherefore doth a living man complain, a strong man because of his sins?
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Let us search and try our ways, and return to the LORD.
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Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42
We have transgressed and have rebelled;
Thou hast not pardoned.
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Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us;
Thou hast slain unsparingly.
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Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
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Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
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All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
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Terror and the pit are come upon us, desolation and destruction.
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Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the breach of the daughter of my people.
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Mine eye is poured out, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
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Till the LORD look forth, and behold from heaven.
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Mine eye affected my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
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They have chased me sore like a bird, that are mine enemies without cause.
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They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast stones upon me.
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Waters flowed over my head;
I said: "I am cut off."
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I called upon Thy name, O LORD, Out of the lowest dungeon.
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Thou heardest my voice;
hide not Thine ear at my sighing, at my cry.
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Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee;
Thou saidst: "Fear not."
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O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul;
Thou hast redeemed my life.
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O LORD, Thou hast seen my wrong;
judge Thou my cause.
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Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.
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Thou hast heard their taunt, O LORD, and all their devices against me;
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The lips of those that rose up against me, and their muttering against me all the day.
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Behold Thou their sitting down, and their rising up;
I am their song.
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Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
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Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, Thy curse unto them.
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Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.