pjoakes_en_ult/25-LAM/03.usfm

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\c 3
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\v 1 I am a man who has seen misery under the rod of Yahweh's fury.
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\v 2 He has driven me away and caused me to walk in darkness rather than light.
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\v 3 Surely he has turned against me; he turns his hand against me all the day.
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\v 4 He has worn out my flesh and my skin; he has broken my bones.

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\v 5 He has built up siege works against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
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\v 6 He has made me to live in dark places, like those long dead.
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\v 7 He has built a wall around me, and I cannot escape. He has made my shackles heavy.
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\v 8 Though I call out and scream for help, he shuts out my prayers.

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\v 9 He has blocked my path with walls of hewn stone; every way I take is crooked.
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\v 10 He is a bear waiting to ambush me,  a lion in hiding.
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\v 11 He has turned aside my paths. He tears me apart and makes me desolate.

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\v 12 He has bent his bow and marked me as a target for an arrow.
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\v 13 He has sent the arrows of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
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\v 14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, the subject of their taunting song day by day.
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\v 15 He has filled me with bitterness and forced me to drink wormwood.

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\v 16 He has crushed my teeth with gravel; he has pushed me down into the dust. 
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\v 17 You have removed peace from my life; I no longer remember any happiness.
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\v 18 So I said, "My endurance has perished, and my hope in Yahweh is gone."
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\v 19 I call to mind my affliction and my straying into wormwood and bitterness.
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\v 20 I certainly call it to mind, and I bow down within myself in despair.
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\v 21 But I call this to mind, and this is why I have hope:

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\v 22 It is by the covenant faithfulness of Yahweh that we are not destroyed, for his merciful actions have not come to an end.
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\v 23 His merciful actions occur afresh every morning; great is your faithfulness!
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\v 24 "Yahweh is my inheritance," I have said to myself, so I will hope in him.

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\v 25 Yahweh is good to the one who waits for him, to the life that seeks him.
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\v 26 It is good to wait in silence for the salvation of Yahweh.
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\v 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
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\v 28 Let him sit alone and silent, because Yahweh has laid it upon him.
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\v 29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, and perhaps there may be hope.

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\v 30 Let him give his cheek to the one striking him. Let him be filled full with disgrace,
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\v 31 for the Lord will not reject him forever!
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\v 32 For though he brings grief, he also shows compassion that comes out of the greatness of his covenant faithfulness.
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\v 33 For he does not oppress from his heart, or torment the sons of men.

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\v 34 To crush all the captives on earth under his foot,
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\v 35 to turn aside the justice of men before the face of the Most High,
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\v 36 to suppress a person in his cause—does not the Lord see?

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\v 37 Who is it that speaks and it happens when the Lord has not commanded it?
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\v 38 Do not both calamity and success come out of the mouth of the Most High?
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\v 39 How can any person alive complain? How can any man complain about the punishment for his sins?
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\v 40 Let us test and examine our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.
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\v 41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in the heavens and pray:
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\v 42 "We have transgressed and have rebelled against you, so you have not pardoned us.
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\v 43 You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us. You have slaughtered us, and you have not pitied us.
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\v 44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
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\v 45 You have made us castoffs and refuse among the peoples.
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\v 46 All our enemies have opened their mouth mockingly against us.
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\v 47 Fear of the pit has come upon us, desolation and crushing."

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\v 48 My eye runs down with streams of water because of the crushing of the daughter of my people.
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\v 49 My eyes flow out, and they do not stop, for there is no end to it
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\v 50 until Yahweh looks down and sees from heaven.

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\v 51 My eye brings severe pain to my life because of all the daughters of my city.

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\v 52 My enemies have relentlessly hunted me like a bird, without cause.
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\v 53 They have destroyed my life in a well and have placed a stone over me.
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\v 54 Waters flowed over my head; I said, "I have been cut off!"
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\v 55 I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest pit.
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\v 56 You heard my voice when I said, "Do not hide your ear from my call for relief, from my cry for help."
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\v 57 You drew near on the day that I called on you; you told me, "Do not fear!"

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\v 58 Lord, you defended me when I was on trial for my life; you have saved my life!
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\v 59 Yahweh, you have seen their oppression of me. Judge my case justly.
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\v 60 You have seen all their acts of vengeance, all their plans against me.
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\v 61 You have heard their scorn, Yahweh, and all their plans regarding me.

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\v 62 You have heard the lips of those who rose up against me; you have heard their deep thoughts that are against me all day long.
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\v 63 Whether in their sitting or their rising up, look, Yahweh! I am the object of their mocking song.

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\v 64 Pay back to them, Yahweh, as much harm as what their hands have done.
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\v 65 Set fear in their hearts; set your curse on them.
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\v 66 Pursue them in your anger and destroy them everywhere under the heavens, Yahweh!