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