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 caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day.
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
My flesh and my skin he has 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 surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
He has made me to dwell in dark places, like those that have been long dead.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
He has walled me in, so I can't escape; he has made my chains heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
He has walled up my ways with cut stone; he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
He has obstructed my path, and torn 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 pierce my inward parts.
14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
I have become a laughingstock to all peoples, 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 given me in full measure wormwood.
16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel; he has pressed me down in the dust.
17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
You have removed my soul far away from peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
And I said, "My strength and my hope has perished from the LORD."
19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
My soul considers them, and is depressed.
21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
But this I call to my mind; therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
The LORD's faithful love does not cease; his compassion does not fail.
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 I will hope in him."
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
The LORD is good to those who 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 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 while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
Let him sit alone and keep silence when he is disciplining him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
Let him put his mouth to the dust, there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
For the LORD will not reject forever.
32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
For though he may cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the abundance of his loving kindness.
33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
For he is not predisposed to bring affliction or suffering to human beings.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth;
35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,
to deprive a man of justice 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 does not approve.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Who can speak a thing and have it come to pass, unless the LORD has commanded it?
38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
Doesn't both calamity and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
Why 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 examine and search 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 to God in the heavens.
42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
We have transgressed and have rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you killed without sparing.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
You have made us rubbish and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.
All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
Fear and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Streams of tears run down from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
My tears flow and do not cease, without respite,
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
until the LORD looks down and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
My eyes bring my soul grief, because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
They have cut off my life in a pit, and have cast a stone on me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
Waters flowed over my head; I said, 'I am finished.'
55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
I called on your name, LORD, out of the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
You heard my voice; do not hide your ear at my sighs, to 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 on you; you said, "Do not be afraid."
58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
LORD, you have taken up the case for my soul; you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
You have seen, LORD, the wrong done to me; judge my case.
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
You have seen all their vengeance and all their plots against me.
61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
You have heard their insults, LORD, and all their plots 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 plots against me all day long.
63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
Look their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their mocking song.
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
You will render to them what they deserve, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
You will give them hardness of heart as your curse to them.
66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
