Lamentations 3
1 I [, the one who am writing this, ] am a man who has been afflicted/punished [MTY] by Yahweh because he was angry.
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 [It was as though] he caused me to walk in a very dark place without any light [at all].
He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3 He has punished [IDM] me many times, all day, [every] day.
Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4 He has caused my skin and my flesh to become old. He has broken my bones.
He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5 He has surrounded me [DOU] with bitterness and suffering.
He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 [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.
He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7 [It is as though] [MET] he has built a wall around me, and fastened/tied me with heavy chains, and I cannot escape.
He has walled me about, so that I cannot go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8 Although I call out and cry out for him to help me, he does not pay attention to my prayers.
Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 [It is as though] he has blocked my path with a [high] stone [wall] and has caused my path to become crooked.
He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10 He has waited to attack me like [SIM] a bear or a lion hides and waits [to attack other animals].
He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11 [It is as though] he has dragged me off the path and (mauled me/torn me into pieces), and left me without help.
He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12 [It is as though] [MET] he bent his bow and caused me to become the target [at which he shot] his arrows.
He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 [It is as though] he shot his arrows deep into my body.
He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14 All my relatives laugh at me; all day, [every] day they sing songs that make fun of me.
I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15 He has filled me with (bitterness/great suffering), [like] [MET] someone who drinks a very bitter liquid suffers.
He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16 [It is as though] he has caused me to chew gravel that broke my teeth, and he has trampled me in the dirt.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17 Things no longer go well for me; I no longer remember being prosperous.
You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18 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!”
I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from the LORD.”
19 When I think about my suffering and my wandering [away from home], [it is like drinking] a very bitter [DOU] liquid.
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20 I will never forget this time when I feel very depressed/discouraged [IDM].
My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21 However, I confidently expect [Yahweh to do good things for me again] when I think about this:
This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22 Yahweh never stops faithfully loving [us], and he never stops being kind to us.
It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies do not fail.
23 [He is the one whom we can] always trust/lean on. Every morning he is merciful [to us again].
They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 [So] I say to myself, “Yahweh is all that I need; so I will confidently wait for him [to do good things for me].”
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25 Yahweh is good to [all] those who depend on him, to those who seek his [help].
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 [So] it is good for us to wait quietly for Yahweh to save/rescue [us].
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 And it is good for us to [patiently] endure [suffering] while we are young.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Those [who seek his help] should sit by themselves, silently, [knowing that] it is Yahweh who has allowed/caused them to suffer.
Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29 They should lie in the dirt, with their faces on the ground, [because] they can still hope [that Yahweh will help them].
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30 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.
Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31 Yahweh does not abandon [us his people] forever.
For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 Sometimes he causes us to suffer, but sometimes he is kind [to us] because he continually and faithfully loves [us].
For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33 And he is not happy about causing human beings to suffer or to be sad.
For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34 If people (mistreat all the prisoners/crush all the prisoners under their feet)
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 or if they rebel against God by refusing to give to people the things that it is right for them [to receive],
to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 or if they cause judges to decide matters unjustly, (does Yahweh not see all those things?/Yahweh certainly sees all those things!) [RHQ]
to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.
37 No one can [RHQ] command something to happen [and then cause it to happen] if Yahweh has not already decided that it should happen.
Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord does not command it?
38 God in heaven [MTY] is [RHQ] the one who causes disasters to happen, and he [also] causes good things to happen.
Does not evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39 [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.
Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Instead, we should (examine/think carefully about) our behavior; we should turn back to Yahweh.
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41 We should pray [IDM] sincerely and lift up our arms toward God in heaven, [and say, ]
Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 “We have sinned and rebelled [against you], and you have not forgiven [us].
“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
43 You have surrounded us with your anger and pursued us; you have slaughtered [us] without pitying us.
“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
44 You have hidden yourself in a cloud, with the result that you do not hear [us] when we pray.
You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have caused [the people of other] nations to consider us to be only garbage [DOU].
You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
46 All our enemies have insulted us.
“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47 We are constantly afraid [DOU], [because] we have experienced disasters and ruin [DOU].”
Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
48 I cry a lot because my people have been destroyed.
My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My tears continually flow; they will not stop
My eye pours down and does not cease, without any intermission,
50 until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees [us].
until the LORD looks down, and sees from heaven.
51 I am very grieved because of [what has happened to] the women of my city.
My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52 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].
They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53 They threw me into a pit to kill me, and they threw stones on top of me.
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
54 The water [in the pit] rose above my head, and I said [to myself], “I am about to die/drown!”
Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
55 But from the bottom of the pit I cried out to you [MTY], “Yahweh, [help me]!”
I called on your name, LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
56 I pleaded with you, “Do not refuse to heed [MTY] me while I cry out to you!”
You heard my voice: “Do not hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
57 Then you answered me and said, “Do not be afraid!”
You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 Yahweh, you defended me; you did not allow me to die.
Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
59 [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]!
LORD, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60 You know the evil things that they have planned to do to me.
You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
61 Yahweh, you have heard them insult [me] and what they have planned to do to me.
You have heard their reproach, LORD, and all their plans against me,
62 Every day they whisper and mutter things about me, all day long.
the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Whether they are standing or sitting they make fun of me with the songs that they sing.
You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64 Yahweh, cause them to suffer in return for their causing [me] to suffer!
You will pay them back, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Curse them [IDM] [for] their being very stubborn [IDM].
You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
66 Because you are angry with them, pursue them and get rid of them, [until none of them remain] on the earth.
You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
