Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
I AM the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
He has led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
Surely against me is he turned; he turns his hand against me all the day.
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
My flesh and my skin has he made old; he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has built against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
He has set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he has made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Also when I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone, he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
He has turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he has made me desolate.
12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he has covered me with ashes.
17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
And you have removed my soul far off from peace: I forgotten about prosperity.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
My soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
The LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
He sits alone and keeps silence, because he has borne it upon him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
He puts his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
He gives his cheek to him that strikes him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
For the LORD will not cast off for ever:
32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
For he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.
35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,
To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD approves not.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?
38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?
39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
Wherefore does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
Let us search and try our ways, and return to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
We have transgressed and have rebelled: you have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
You have covered with anger, and persecuted us: you have slain, you have not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
You have covered yourself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
You have made us as the waste and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.
All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
Fear and a snare has come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Mine eye runs down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
Mine eye trickes down, and ceases not, without any intermission.
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
Mine eye affects mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
I called upon your name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
You have heard my voice: hide not your ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
You drew near in the day that I called upon you: you said, Fear not.
58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
O LORD, you have pleaded the causes of my soul; you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
O LORD, you have seen my wrong: judge you my cause.
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
You have seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
You have heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their music.
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
Give them sorrow of heart, your curse unto them.
66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.
