37-39. Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?It’s the Master who gives such orders.Doesn’t the High God speak everything,good things and hard things alike, into being?And why would anyone gifted with lifecomplain when punished for sin?
40-42. Let’s take a good look at the way we’re livingand reorder our lives under God.Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,praying to God in heaven:“We’ve been contrary and willful,and you haven’t forgiven.
43-45. “You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back.You chased us and cut us down without mercy.You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of cloudsso no prayers could get through.You treated us like dirty dishwater,threw us out in the backyard of the nations.
46-48. “Our enemies shout abuse,their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.We’ve been to hell and back.We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.Rivers of tears pour from my eyesat the smashup of my dear people.
49-51. “The tears stream from my eyes,an artesian well of tears,Until you, God, look down from on high,look and see my tears.When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,the pain breaks my heart.
52-54. “Enemies with no reason to be enemieshunted me down like a bird.They threw me into a pit,then pelted me with stones.Then the rains came and filled the pit.The water rose over my head. I said, ‘It’s all over.’
55-57. “I called out your name, O God,called from the bottom of the pit.You listened when I called out, ‘Don’t shut your ears!Get me out of here! Save me!’You came close when I called out.You said, ‘It’s going to be all right.’