Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
I [, the one who am writing this, ] am a man who has been afflicted/punished [MTY] by Yahweh because he was angry.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
[It was as though] he caused me to walk in a very dark place without any light [at all].
3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
He has punished [IDM] me many times, all day, [every] day.
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
He has caused my skin and my flesh to become old. He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has surrounded me [DOU] with bitterness and suffering.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
[It is as though] he has buried me in a dark place like [SIM] [the graves of] those who have been dead for a long time.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
[It is as though] [MET] he has built a wall around me, and fastened/tied me with heavy chains, and I cannot escape.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Although I call out and cry out for him to help me, he does not pay attention to my prayers.
9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
[It is as though] he has blocked my path with a [high] stone [wall] and has caused my path to become crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
He has waited to attack me like [SIM] a bear or a lion hides and waits [to attack other animals].
11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
[It is as though] he has dragged me off the path and (mauled me/torn me into pieces), and left me without help.
12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
[It is as though] [MET] he bent his bow and caused me to become the target [at which he shot] his arrows.
13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
[It is as though] he shot his arrows deep into my body.
14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
All my relatives laugh at me; all day, [every] day they sing songs that make fun of me.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
He has filled me with (bitterness/great suffering), [like] [MET] someone who drinks a very bitter liquid suffers.
16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
[It is as though] he has caused me to chew gravel that broke my teeth, and he has trampled me in the dirt.
17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
Things no longer go well for me; I no longer remember being prosperous.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
I [continued to] say [to myself], “I no longer expect to live much longer; I no longer confidently expect [to receive good things] from Yahweh!”
19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
When I think about my suffering and my wandering [away from home], [it is like drinking] a very bitter [DOU] liquid.
20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
I will never forget this time when I feel very depressed/discouraged [IDM].
21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
However, I confidently expect [Yahweh to do good things for me again] when I think about this:
22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
Yahweh never stops faithfully loving [us], and he never stops being kind to us.
23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
[He is the one whom we can] always trust/lean on. Every morning he is merciful [to us again].
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
[So] I say to myself, “Yahweh is all that I need; so I will confidently wait for him [to do good things for me].”
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
Yahweh is good to [all] those who depend on him, to those who seek his [help].
26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
[So] it is good for us to wait quietly for Yahweh to save/rescue [us].
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
And it is good for us to [patiently] endure [suffering] while we are young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
Those [who seek his help] should sit by themselves, silently, [knowing that] it is Yahweh who has allowed/caused them to suffer.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
They should lie in the dirt, with their faces on the ground, [because] they can still hope [that Yahweh will help them].
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
If someone strikes us on one cheek, we should turn the other cheek toward that person [in order that he may strike it, too], and accept/endure it when we are insulted.
31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
Yahweh does not abandon [us his people] forever.
32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
Sometimes he causes us to suffer, but sometimes he is kind [to us] because he continually and faithfully loves [us].
33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
And he is not happy about causing human beings to suffer or to be sad.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
If people (mistreat all the prisoners/crush all the prisoners under their feet)
35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,
or if they rebel against God by refusing to give to people the things that it is right for them [to receive],
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
or if they cause judges to decide matters unjustly, (does Yahweh not see all those things?/Yahweh certainly sees all those things!) [RHQ]
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
No one can [RHQ] command something to happen [and then cause it to happen] if Yahweh has not already decided that it should happen.
38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
God in heaven [MTY] is [RHQ] the one who causes disasters to happen, and he [also] causes good things to happen.
39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
[So] it is certainly not [RHQ] right for us, who are only humans, to complain when he punishes us for the sins that we have committed.
40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
Instead, we should (examine/think carefully about) our behavior; we should turn back to Yahweh.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
We should pray [IDM] sincerely and lift up our arms toward God in heaven, [and say, ]
42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
“We have sinned and rebelled [against you], and you have not forgiven [us].
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
You have surrounded us with your anger and pursued us; you have slaughtered [us] without pitying us.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
You have hidden yourself in a cloud, with the result that you do not hear [us] when we pray.
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
You have caused [the people of other] nations to consider us to be only garbage [DOU].
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.
All our enemies have insulted us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
We are constantly afraid [DOU], [because] we have experienced disasters and ruin [DOU].”
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
I cry a lot because my people have been destroyed.
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
My tears continually flow; they will not stop
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees [us].
51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
I am very grieved because of [what has happened to] the women of my city.
52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
Those who are my enemies hunted for me like [SIM] [people hunt for] a bird [to kill it] [even though] there was no reason [for them to do that].
53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
They threw me into a pit to kill me, and they threw stones on top of me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
The water [in the pit] rose above my head, and I said [to myself], “I am about to die/drown!”
55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
But from the bottom of the pit I cried out to you [MTY], “Yahweh, [help me]!”
56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
I pleaded with you, “Do not refuse to heed [MTY] me while I cry out to you!”
57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
Then you answered me and said, “Do not be afraid!”
58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
Yahweh, you defended me; you did not allow me to die.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
[Now], Yahweh, you have seen the evil things that my enemies have done to me, [so] decide my case [and show that I am right]!
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
You know the evil things that they have planned to do to me.
61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
Yahweh, you have heard them insult [me] and what they have planned to do to me.
62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
Every day they whisper and mutter things about me, all day long.
63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
Look at them! Whether they are standing or sitting they make fun of me with the songs that they sing.
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
Yahweh, cause them to suffer in return for their causing [me] to suffer!
65 Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
Curse them [IDM] [for] their being very stubborn [IDM].
66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
Because you are angry with them, pursue them and get rid of them, [until none of them remain] on the earth.
