Lamentations 3
1 I am a man who has seen misery under the rod of Yahweh's fury.
I AM the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He drove me away and caused me to walk in darkness rather than light.
He has led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely he turned his hand against me again and again, the whole day long.
Surely against me is he turned; he turns his hand against me all the day.
4 He made my flesh and my skin waste away; he broke my bones.
My flesh and my skin has he made old; he has broken my bones.
5 He built up siege works against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has built against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He made me live in dark places, like those who died long ago.
He has set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He built a wall around me and I cannot escape. He made my chains heavy
He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he has made my chain heavy.
8 and though I call out and cry for help, he shut out my prayer.
Also when I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He blocked my path with a wall of hewn stone; he made my paths crooked.
He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone, he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is like a bear waiting to ambush me, a lion in hiding;
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 he turned aside my paths, he has made me desolate.
He has turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he has made me desolate.
12 He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He pierced my kidneys with the arrows of his quiver.
He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I became a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunting all day long.
I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He filled me with bitterness and forced me to drink wormwood.
He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind with gravel, and he made me cower in the ashes.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he has covered me with ashes.
17 My soul is deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.
And you have removed my soul far off from peace: I forgotten about prosperity.
18 So I say, “My endurance has perished and so has my hope in Yahweh.”
And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and bitterness.
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 I continually remember it and I am bowed down within me.
My soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 But I call this to mind and therefore I have hope:
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases and his compassions never end,
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 they are new every morning; your faithfulness is great.
They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.
24 “Yahweh is my inheritance,” I said, therefore I will hope in him.
The LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the one who seeks him.
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
26 It is good to wait silently for the salvation of Yahweh.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, when it is laid upon him.
He sits alone and keeps silence, because he has borne it upon him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope.
He puts his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him, and let him be filled to the full with reproach.
He gives his cheek to him that strikes him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not reject us forever,
For the LORD will not cast off for ever:
32 but though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he does not afflict from his heart or torment the children of mankind.
For he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.
35 to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,
To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 to deny justice to a person—the Lord would not approve such things!
To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD approves not.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord decreed it?
Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and the good come?
Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?
39 How can any person alive complain? How can a person complain about the punishment for his sins?
Wherefore does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to Yahweh.
Let us search and try our ways, and return to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in the heavens:
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
We have transgressed and have rebelled: you have not pardoned.
43 You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us, you have killed and you have not spared.
You have covered with anger, and persecuted us: you have slain, you have not pitied.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
You have covered yourself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us like filthy scum and refuse among the nations.
You have made us as the waste and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies curse us,
All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us, ruin and destruction.
Fear and a snare has come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes flow with streams of tears because my people are destroyed.
Mine eye runs down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes will shed tears without ceasing, without relief,
Mine eye trickes down, and ceases not, without any intermission.
50 until Yahweh from heaven looks down and sees.
Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
51 My eyes cause me grief because of all the daughters of my city.
Mine eye affects mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies; they hunted me without a reason.
Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They cast me into a pit and they threw a stone on me,
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 and they caused waters to overflow, covering my head. I said, 'I have been cut off!'
Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called on your name, Yahweh, from the depths of the pit.
I called upon your name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 You heard my voice when I said, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help.'
You have heard my voice: hide not your ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 You came near on the day I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear.'
You drew near in the day that I called upon you: you said, Fear not.
58 Lord, you defended my case, you saved my life!
O LORD, you have pleaded the causes of my soul; you have redeemed my life.
59 Yahweh, you have seen the wrong they have done to me; judge my case.
O LORD, you have seen my wrong: judge you my cause.
60 You have seen their insults, all their plots against me—
You have seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 You have heard their scorn, Yahweh, and all their plans regarding me.
You have heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
62 The lips and the accusations of my enemies come against me all the day.
The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 Look at how they sit and then rise up; they mock me with their songs.
Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their music.
64 Pay back to them, Yahweh, according to what they have done.
Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 You will let their hearts be shameless! May your condemnation be upon them!
Give them sorrow of heart, your curse unto them.
66 You pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens, Yahweh!”
Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.
