Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.
3 Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.
5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.
6 He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.
7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
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.
8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.
9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.
10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.
11 He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.
12 He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.
13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.
14 I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.
17 You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.
18 I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from the LORD.”
And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.
19 Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.
20 My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.
21 This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail.
It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
They are new every morning; great is your good faith.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.
26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting 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 to undergo the yoke when he is young.
28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.
30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.
32 For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.
33 For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.
36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.
37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?
38 Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;
41 Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 “We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.
43 “You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.
45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.
47 Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.
48 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,
50 until the LORD looks down, and sees from heaven.
Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.
51 My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.
54 Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.
55 I called on your name, LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.
56 You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.
57 You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.
58 Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.
59 LORD, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, LORD, and all their plans against me,
Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;
62 the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.
63 You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.
64 You will pay them back, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.
66 You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.
