1: I'm the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of GOD's anger.
2: He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness.
3: Yes, he's given me the back of his hand over and over and over again.
4: He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
5: He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times.
6: He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
7: He shuts me in so I'll never get out, manacles my hands, shackles my feet.
8: Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
9: He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. He's got me cornered.
10: He's a prowling bear tracking me down, a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
11: He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces. When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
12: He took out his bow and arrows and used me for target practice.
13: He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver.
14: Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
15: He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks.
16: He ground my face into the gravel. He pounded me into the mud.
17: I gave up on life altogether. I've forgotten what the good life is like.
18: I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished. GOD is a lost cause."
19: I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
20: I remember it all--oh, how well I remember--the feeling of hitting the bottom.
21: But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
22: GOD's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
23: They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!
24: I'm sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.
25: GOD proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.
26: It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from GOD.
27: It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.
28: When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
29: Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.
30: Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.
31: Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return.
32: If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
33: He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way:
34: Stomping down hard on luckless prisoners,
35: Refusing justice to victims in the court of High God,
36: Tampering with evidence--the Master does not approve of such things.
37: Who do you think "spoke and it happened"? It's the Master who gives such orders.
38: Doesn't the High God speak everything, good things and hard things alike, into being?
39: And why would anyone gifted with life complain when punished for sin?
40: Let's take a good look at the way we're living and reorder our lives under GOD.
41: Let's lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time, praying to God in heaven:
42: "We've been contrary and willful, and you haven't forgiven.
43: "You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back. You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
44: You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds so no prayers could get through.
45: You treated us like dirty dishwater, threw us out in the backyard of the nations.
46: "Our enemies shout abuse, their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
47: We've been to hell and back. We've nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
48: Rivers of tears pour from my eyes at the smashup of my dear people.
49: "The tears stream from my eyes, an artesian well of tears,
50: Until you, GOD, look down from on high, look and see my tears.
51: When I see what's happened to the young women in the city, the pain breaks my heart.
52: "Enemies with no reason to be enemies hunted me down like a bird.
53: They threw me into a pit, then pelted me with stones.
54: Then the rains came and filled the pit. The water rose over my head. I said, "It's all over.'
55: "I called out your name, O GOD, called from the bottom of the pit.
56: You listened when I called out, "Don't shut your ears! Get me out of here! Save me!'
57: You came close when I called out. You said, "It's going to be all right.'
58: "You took my side, Master; you brought me back alive!
59: GOD, you saw the wrongs heaped on me. Give me my day in court!
60: Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes, their plots to destroy me.
61: "You heard, GOD, their vicious gossip, their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
62: They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief, hatching out malice, day after day after day.
63: Sitting down or standing up--just look at them!- they mock me with vulgar doggerel.
64: "Make them pay for what they've done, GOD. Give them their just deserts.
65: Break their miserable hearts! Damn their eyes!
66: Get good and angry. Hunt them down. Make a total demolition here under your heaven!"