Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.
He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
3 Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.
Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
4 My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.
He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
5 He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.
He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
7 He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.
Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.
He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.
He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
11 By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.
He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
12 With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.
He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
13 He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.
He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
14 I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.
I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15 He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.
He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
16 By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.
He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
17 My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.
My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.
So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
19 Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.
Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.
Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
21 This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.
Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.
Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your good faith.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24 I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have 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 are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28 Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.
Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.
Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
30 Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.
Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
31 For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.
For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
32 For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.
Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
33 For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
34 In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35 In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.
to deny a man justice before the Most High,
36 In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.
to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
37 Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38 Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?
Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
40 Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;
Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
41 Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.
“We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43 Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;
You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
44 Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.
You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46 The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.
All our enemies open their mouths against us.
47 Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.
Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
48 Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,
My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
50 Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.
until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51 The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;
Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.
They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
54 Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.
The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
55 I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.
I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
56 My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.
You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
57 You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.
You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.
You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
59 O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.
You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60 You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.
You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61 Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;
O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62 The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.
the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
63 Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.
When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
64 You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.
You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.
Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
66 You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.
You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
