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I, the one who am writing this, am a man whom Yahweh made to suffer, because he was angry.
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It was as though he caused me to walk in a very dark place without any light at all.
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He has punished me many times, many times during each day.
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He has caused my skin and my flesh to become old. He has broken my bones.
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He has surrounded me with things that make me suffer very bitterly.
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It is as though he has buried me in a dark place like those who have been dead for a long time.
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It is as though he has built a prison wall around me, and fastened me with heavy chains, so I cannot escape.
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Although I call out and cry out for him to help me, he does not pay attention to me.
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It is as though he has blocked my path with a high stone wall and has caused me to wander everywhere to try to get out.
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He has waited to attack me like a bear or a lion hides and waits to attack a man.
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It is as though a bear has dragged me off the path and mauled me, and left me alone without help.
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It is as though he strung his bow and made me the target to shoot at with his arrows.
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It is as though he shot his arrows deep into my body.
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All my relatives laugh at me; all during each day they sing songs that make fun of me.
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Yahweh has made me suffer greatly, like someone suffers after drinking something very bitter.
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It is as though he has caused me to chew gravel that broke my teeth; it is as though he has trampled me in the ground.
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Things no longer go well for me; I no longer remember being prosperous.
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I continue to say to myself, “I am not strong enough to bear any more hardships. I no longer expect that Yahweh will rescue me.”
The Prophet’s Hope
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When I think about how I suffer and how I wander far from home, it is like drinking a very bitter liquid.
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I will never forget this time when I feel very depressed.
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However, I confidently expect Yahweh to do good things for me again, and this I know is true.
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Yahweh never stops faithfully loving us, and he shows his compassion for us forever. He never stops acting kindly toward us.
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Every morning he acts mercifully toward us again. He is the one in whom we can always trust.
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So I sincerely say to myself, “Yahweh gives me what I need!” Because I believe this, I will confidently wait for him to do good things for me.
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Yahweh is good to all those who depend on him, to those who seek him to help them.
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So it is good for us to wait quietly for Yahweh to save us.
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And it is good for us to suffer patiently while we are young.
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Those who seek him to help them should sit by themselves and not complain, because they know that it is Yahweh who has allowed them to suffer.
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They should lie in the dirt, with their faces on the ground, because they can still hope that Yahweh will help them.
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If someone strikes us on one cheek, we should turn the other cheek toward that person in order that he may strike it, too, and accept it when others insult us.
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The Lord does not abandon his people forever.
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Sometimes he causes us to suffer, but he also acts kindly toward us because he continually and faithfully loves us.
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And he does not take pleasure when he causes people to suffer or be sad.
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If people mistreat and oppress all the prisoners,
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or if they rebel against God by refusing to do for others what is right,
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or if they cause judges to decide matters unjustly, the Lord certainly sees all these things.
God’s Justice
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No one can make something happen unless Yahweh has already decided that it should happen.
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God in heaven is the one who commands that disasters should happen, and he also causes good things to happen.
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So it is certainly not right for us, who are only people on earth, to complain when he punishes us for the sins that we have committed.
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Instead, we should think carefully about how we behave; we should turn back to Yahweh.
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We should pray with all our inner beings and lift up our arms toward God in heaven, and say,
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“We have sinned and rebelled against you, and you have not forgiven us.
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You have been very angry and chased after us; you have slaughtered us without pitying us.
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You have hidden yourself away, as if you were in a cloud, so that you will not hear us when we pray.
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You have made us go among the foreign peoples, and they think we are only garbage.
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All our enemies have spoken things to insult us.
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We are constantly afraid that people will trap us, because we have experienced so many disasters and so much ruin.
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Many tears flow from my eyes because my people have been destroyed.
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My tears continually flow; they will not stop
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until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees us.
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I am very grieved because of what has happened to the women of my city.
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My enemies hunted for me like people hunt for a bird to kill it even though there was no reason for them to do that.
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They threw me into a pit to kill me, and placed a heavy stone over the top of it.
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The water in the pit rose above my head, and I said to myself, ‘I am about to die!’
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But from the bottom of the pit I cried out to you, ‘Yahweh, help me!’
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I pleaded with you, ‘Do not refuse to hear me when I cry out to you!’
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Then you answered me and said, ‘Do not be afraid!’
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Yahweh, you argued for me when people wanted to condemn me and execute me; you did not allow me to die.
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Now, Yahweh, you have seen the evil things that my enemies have done to me, so judge my case and show that I have done nothing wrong.
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You know the evil things that they are planning to do to me.
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Yahweh, you have heard them insult me; you have heard what they plan to do to me.
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Every day they whisper and mutter things about me, all during the day.
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Look at them! Whatever they are doing at the moment, they make fun of me by the songs that they sing.
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Yahweh, give them what they deserve! Pay them back for what they have done to me!
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You permit them to do whatever they want, and you punish them by taking away their shame. That is why your curse is upon them.
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Because you are angry with them, pursue them and get rid of them, until none of them remain on the earth.”
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