Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
I am the man who hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
Me hath he driven out, and led into darkness, but not into light.
3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
Surely against me doth he turn again and again his hand all the day.
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
He hath caused my flesh and my skin to wear out, he hath broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He hath built around me, and encompassed me with poison and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
In dark places hath he set me to dwell, like the dead of olden times.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
He hath placed a fence round about me, that I cannot get out; he hath made heavy my chain.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Also when I cry aloud and make entreaty, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
He hath fenced up my ways with hewn stone, my paths hath he made crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
A bear lying in wait is he to me, a lion in secret places.
11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
On my ways hath he placed thorns, and torn me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
He hath bent his bow, and placed me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
He hath caused to enter into my reins the children of his quiver.
14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
I am become a laughing-stock to all my people, their [jeering] song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
He hath sated me with bitter things, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel-stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
And my soul hath given up all thoughts of peace: I forget happiness.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
And I said, Lost is my strength, my expectation also from the Lord.
19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
Remembering my affliction and [the cause of] my complaint, wormwood and poison.
20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
Remembering [this] continually my soul is bowed down deeply within me.
21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
[Yet] this answer will I give to my heart: therefore will I wait [in confidence].
22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
It is through the Lord's kindness that we are not consumed, because his mercies have no end;
23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I wait for him.
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
The Lord is good unto those that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good that one should wait and this in silence 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 in his youth;
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
That he sit in solitude and be silent; because He hath laid it upon him;
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
That he put his mouth in the dust; perhaps there still is hope;
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
That he offer his cheek to him that smiteth him; that he be satisfied 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 have caused grief, yet will he have mercy according to the abundance of his kindnesses.
33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
For he doth not afflict of his own will, and aggrieve 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 pervert the justice [due to 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 contest—should the Lord not see this?
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Who is he that saith aught, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord hath not ordained it?
38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
Do not out of the mouth of the Most High come both the evil things and the good?
39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
Wherefore should a living man complain? let every man complain because of his sins.
40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
Let us search through and investigate our ways, and let us 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 indeed transgressed and rebelled: thou hast truly not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
Thou hast covered [us] with thy anger, and made pursuit after us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that no prayer should pass through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
As something loathsome and rejected hast thou rendered us in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.
Wide have all our enemies opened against us their mouth.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
Terror and a snare are come upon us, [with] desolation and breaches.
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
With streams of water runneth my eye down, because of the breach of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
My eye trickleth down, and resteth 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.
My eye affecteth my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
Those who are my enemies, without a cause, have chased me about like a bird.
53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
They have shut up in the dungeon my life, and have cast stones upon me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
Waters streamed over my head: I said, I am cut off.
55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
I called on thy name, O Lord, out of the dungeon of the lowest depth.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
Thou didst hear my voice: hide not thy ear to give me enlargement at my cry.
57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
Thou wast ever near on the day that I called on thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
Thou didst plead, O Lord, the causes of my soul: thou didst [before this] redeem my life.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
Thou hast [now] seen, O Lord, the wrong I suffer: judge thou my cause.
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their plans against me.
61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
Thou hast heard their reviling, O Lord, all their plans against me,
62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
The speeches of these that rise 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.
Oh look upon their sitting down, and their rising up: I am their [jeering] song.
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
Render unto them a recompense, 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 confusion of heart, thy curse he upon them.
66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
Pursue them in anger and destroy from under the heavens of the Lord.
