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 that 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 against me he turns his hand again and again all the day.
4 He has caused my skin and my flesh to become old. He has broken my bones.
My flesh and my skin he has made 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 to dwell in dark places, like those that 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 in, so I can't escape; he has made my chains 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 obstructed my path, and torn 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 arrows of his quiver to pierce my inward parts.
14 All my relatives laugh at me; all day, [every] day they sing songs that make fun of me.
I have become a laughingstock to all peoples, and their song all the day.
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 given me in full measure 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 pressed me down in the dust.
17 Things no longer go well for me; I no longer remember being prosperous.
You have removed my soul far away from peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
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!”
And I said, "My strength and my hope has perished 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 gall.
20 I will never forget this time when I feel very depressed/discouraged [IDM].
My soul considers them, and is depressed.
21 However, I confidently expect [Yahweh to do good things for me again] when I think about this:
But this I call to my mind; therefore I have hope:
22 Yahweh never stops faithfully loving [us], and he never stops being kind to us.
The LORD's faithful love does not cease; his compassion does 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 that 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 while he is young.
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 when he is disciplining 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 to the dust, there may yet 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 with insults.
31 Yahweh does not abandon [us his people] forever.
For the LORD will not reject 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 may cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the abundance of his loving kindness.
33 And he is not happy about causing human beings to suffer or to be sad.
For he is not predisposed to bring affliction or suffering to human beings.
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 deprive a man of justice 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 can speak a thing and have it come to pass, unless the LORD has commanded it?
38 God in heaven [MTY] is [RHQ] the one who causes disasters to happen, and he [also] causes good things to happen.
Doesn't both calamity 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 does 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 examine and search our ways, and return to the LORD.
41 We should pray [IDM] sincerely and lift up our arms toward God in heaven, [and say, ]
Let us 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, and you have not forgiven.
43 You have surrounded us with your anger and pursued us; you have slaughtered [us] without pitying us.
You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you killed without sparing.
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 rubbish and refuse in the midst 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].”
Fear and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.
48 I cry a lot because my people have been destroyed.
Streams of tears run down from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My tears continually flow; they will not stop
My tears flow and do not cease, without respite,
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 eyes bring my soul grief, 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 a pit, 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 finished.'
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 depths of the pit.
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 at my sighs, to my cry.
57 Then you answered me and said, “Do not be afraid!”
You drew 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 taken up the case for 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]!
You have seen, LORD, the wrong done to me; judge my case.
60 You know the evil things that they have planned to do to me.
You have seen all their vengeance and all their plots against me.
61 Yahweh, you have heard them insult [me] and what they have planned to do to me.
You have heard their insults, LORD, and all their plots 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.
Look their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their mocking song.
64 Yahweh, cause them to suffer in return for their causing [me] to suffer!
You will render to them what they deserve, 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 as 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.
