3
Great Is Your Faithfulness
1 # Jer. 20:18 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the #Ps. 2:9rod of his wrath;
2he has driven and brought me
# Isa. 5:30 into darkness without any light;
3surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
# Ps. 51:8; Isa. 38:13; Jer. 50:17 he has broken my bones;
5 # [Job 19:12] he has besieged and enveloped me
with #ver. 19; Deut. 29:18bitterness and tribulation;
6 # Ps. 143:3 he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 # Job 19:8 He has walled me about so that #Ps. 88:8I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
8though #Job 19:7; 30:20; Ps. 22:2I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 # [See ver. 7 above] he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 # See Hos. 13:8 He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 # [Jer. 18:15] he turned aside my steps and #[See ver. 10 above] tore me to pieces;
# ch. 1:13 he has made me desolate;
12 # ch. 2:4 he bent his bow #[Job 16:12]and set me
as a target for his arrow.
13He drove into my kidneys
# Job 6:4; Ps. 38:2 the arrows of his quiver;
14 # See Jer. 20:7 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
# ver. 63; Job 30:9; Ps. 69:12 the object of their taunts all day long.
15 # [Isa. 51:17, 21] He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with #Jer. 9:15wormwood.
16 # [Prov. 20:17] He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and #See Jer. 6:26made me cower in ashes;
17my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness#3:17 Hebrew good is;
18 # [Ps. 9:18] so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 # [ch. 1:9, 11, 20] Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
# [See ver. 15 above] the wormwood and #ver. 5the gall!
20My soul continually remembers it
# Ps. 42:6; 44:25 and is bowed down within me.
21But this I call to mind,
and #[Ps. 42:5, 11]therefore I have hope:
22 # [Mal. 3:6] The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;#3:22 Syriac, Targum; Hebrew Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, we are not cut off
# [Mal. 3:6] his mercies never come to an end;
23they are new #Job 7:18 every morning;
# Ps. 36:5 great is your faithfulness.
24 # Ps. 16:5; 73:26 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
# [See ver. 21 above] “therefore I will hope in him.”
25The Lord is good to those who #Ps. 130:6; [Isa. 30:18]wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 # Ps. 130:5, 7; Mic. 7:7 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 # [Matt. 11:29] It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke #[Eccles. 12:1]in his youth.
28Let him #ch. 1:1; 2:10; Isa. 3:26sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 # Job 42:6 let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30 # Isa. 50:6; Matt. 5:39 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
31 # Ps. 103:9 For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32but, though he #ch. 1:5 cause grief, #Ps. 103:8 he will have compassion
# Ps. 106:45 according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 # [Heb. 12:6, 10] for he does not afflict from his heart
or #[Heb. 12:11]grieve the children of men.
34To crush underfoot
all #[Ps. 107:10]the prisoners of the earth,
35 # [Hab. 1:13] to deny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
36to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
# [See ver. 35 above] the Lord does not approve.
37 # [Ps. 33:9] Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 # Isa. 45:7; Amos 3:6 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39 # Prov. 19:3 Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40Let us test and examine our ways,
# Joel 2:12, 13 and return to the Lord!
41 # Ps. 25:1; 119:48 Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
42 # See Dan. 9:5 “We have transgressed and #Ps. 78:17rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43“You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
# ch. 2:2, 17, 21 killing without pity;
44 # ver. 8; [ch. 2:1] you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 # [1 Cor. 4:13] You have made us scum and garbage
among the peoples.
46 # ch. 2:16, 17 “All our enemies
open their mouths against us;
47 # Isa. 24:17; Jer. 48:43 panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and #Isa. 51:19destruction;
48 # ch. 1:16; See Jer. 13:17 my eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 # [See ver. 48 above] “My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 # Ps. 14:2; Isa. 63:15 until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees;
51my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 # ch. 4:18 “I have been hunted #Ps. 11:1 like a bird
by those who were my enemies #See Ps. 35:19without cause;
53 # Jer. 37:16; 38:6, 9, 10 they flung me alive into the pit
# [Dan. 6:17] and cast stones on me;
54 # Ps. 69:2 water closed over my head;
I said, #Ps. 88:5; [Ezek. 37:11]‘I am lost.’
55 # Ps. 130:1 “I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56 # [Ps. 130:2] you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
57 # [James 4:8] You came near when I called on you;
you said, #See Josh. 1:9‘Do not fear!’
58“You have #Ps. 119:154 taken up my cause, #[1 Sam. 24:15]O Lord;
you have #Ps. 119:154 redeemed my life.
59You have seen the wrong done to me, #Ps. 35:22, 23O Lord;
judge my cause.
60You have seen all their vengeance,
all #See Jer. 11:19their plots against me.
61 # ch. 5:1 “You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all #[See ver. 60 above]their plots against me.
62The lips and thoughts #Ps. 18:39, 48of my assailants
are against me all the day long.
63 # [Ps. 139:2] Behold their sitting and their rising;
# See ver. 14 I am the object of their taunts.
64 # See Jer. 11:20 “You will repay them,#3:64 Or Repay them O Lord,
# Ps. 28:4; [2 Tim. 4:14] according to the work of their hands.
65You will give them#3:65 Or Give them dullness of heart;
your curse will be#3:65 Or place your curse on them.
66You will pursue them#3:66 Or Pursue them in anger and #[Deut. 25:19; Jer. 10:11] destroy them
from under #Ps. 8:3your heavens, O Lord.”#3:66 Syriac (compare Septuagint, Vulgate); Hebrew the heavens of the Lord
