< Lamentations 3 >
1 I am the man that hath seen affliction under the rod of His wrath;
2 He hath led me and brought me into darkness, and not into light;
3 Yea, against me doth he again and again turn his hand all the day long.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath builded against me, and encompassed me with bitterness and woe.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as those that have long been dead.
7 He hath hedged me about, so that I cannot get out; he hath made my chain heavy;
8 Yea, when I cry and call aloud, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He blocketh up my way with hewn stone; he maketh my paths crooked.
10 A bear lying in wait hath he been to me, a lion in lurking-places.
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and torn me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He hath caused the sons of his quiver to pierce my reins.
14 I have been a laughing-stock to all my people, their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness; he hath made me drunk with wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel-stones; He hath covered me with ashes.
17 Yea, thou hast removed my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
18 And I say, “My confidence and my hope in Jehovah are gone!”
19 Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall!
20 Yea, thou wilt remember them, for my soul sinketh within me!
21 This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope;
22 It is of the mercy of Jehovah that we are not consumed; yea, his compassion faileth not;
23 It is new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
24 Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul, therefore do I hope in him.
25 Jehovah is good to them that trust in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man hope, and quietly wait for salvation from Jehovah.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth;
28 That he sit alone and keep silence, since He layeth it upon him;
29 That he put his mouth in the dust, [[saying to himself, ]] “Perhaps there may be hope!”
30 That he offer his cheek to the smiter; that he be filled with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever;
32 For though he cause grief, yet doth he have compassion according to his great mercy;
33 For he doth not willingly afflict and grieve the children of men.
34 Doth one trample under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 Doth he bend the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 Doth he subvert a man in his cause, and shall not the Lord behold it?
37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord hath not commanded?
38 Cometh not evil, as well as good, from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Wherefore then murmureth the living man? Let him murmur at his own sin!
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah!
41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens!
42 We have transgressed; we have rebelled; thou hast not forgiven!
43 Thou hast hidden thyself in anger, and hast pursued us; thou hast slain and hast not spared;
44 Thou hast hidden thyself in a cloud, that our prayer may not pass through;
45 Thou hast made us the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the nations.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us;
47 Terror and the pit have come upon us, desolation and destruction;
48 Mine eye runneth down with streams of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 Until Jehovah look down and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye is painful to me on account of all the daughters of my city.
52 They that are my enemies without cause hunt me down like a bird;
53 They take away my life in the dungeon; they cast a stone upon me;
54 Waters flow over my head; I say, “I am undone!”
55 I call upon thy name, O Jehovah, from the deep dungeon;
56 Hear thou my voice! hide not thine ear from my cry for relief!
57 Be near to me, when I call upon thee! Say, “Fear not!”
58 Thou maintainest my cause, O Lord; thou redeemest my life!
59 Thou, O Jehovah, seest the wrong done to me; Maintain thou my cause!
60 Thou seest all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
61 Thou hearest their reproach, O Jehovah, all their devices against me,
62 The words of my adversaries, and their machinations against me all the day long!
63 Behold their sitting down and their rising up! I am their song.
64 Render to them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands!
65 Give them blindness of mind! thy curse be upon them!
66 Pursue them in thine anger, and destroy them from under Jehovah's heaven!
