Lamentations 3

1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

2 He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.

3 Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.

4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

6 He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.

7 He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.

8 Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.

9 He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.

10 He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.

11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.

12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13 He hath caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.

14 I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.

15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.

16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes.

17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.

18 And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.

19 Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.

21 This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.

22  It is of Jehovah’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.

24 Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

25 Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.

27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.

29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.

30 Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be filled full with reproach.

31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever.

32 For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

33 For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,

35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,

36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.

37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

38 Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good?

39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.

41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

42 We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned.

43 Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.

45 Thou hast made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.

46 All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

47 Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction.

48 Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

50 Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.

51 Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.

52 They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause.

53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me.

54 Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.

55 I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon.

56 Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.

58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

59 O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.

60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.

61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me,

62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.

63 Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.

64 Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands.

65 Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.

66 Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.

Lamentations 3

Punishment, Repentance, and Hope

1 I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.

2 He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness

3 And beat me again and again with merciless blows.

4 He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.

5 He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.

6 He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.

7 He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.

8 I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;

9 I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.

10 He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.

11 He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.

12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.

13 He shot his arrows deep into my body.

14 People laugh at me all day long; I am a joke to them all.

15 Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.

16 He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on the gravel.

17 I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.

18 I have not much longer to live; my hope in the Lord is gone.

19 The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison;

20 I think of it constantly and my spirit is depressed.

21 Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:

22 The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue,

23 Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.

24 The Lord is all I have, and so I put my hope in him.

25 The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him,

26 So it is best for us to wait in patience — to wait for him to save us —

27 And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.

28 When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience;

29 We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope.

30 Though beaten and insulted, we should accept it all.

31 The Lord is merciful and will not reject us for ever.

32 He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.

33 He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.

34 The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison;

35 He knows when we are denied the rights he gave us;

36 When justice is perverted in court, he knows.

37 The will of the Lord alone is always carried out.t

38 Good and evil alike take place at his command.

39 Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?t

40 Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord.

41 Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,

42 “We have sinned and rebelled, and you, O Lord, have not forgiven us.

43 “You pursued us and killed us; your mercy was hidden by your anger,

44 By a cloud of fury too thick for our prayers to get through.

45 You have made us the refuse heap of the world.

46 “We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies.

47 We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear.

48 My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people.

49 “My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream

50 Until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees us.

51 My heart is grieved when I see what has happened to the women of the city.

52 “I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.

53 They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.

54 Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.

55 “From the bottom of the pit, O Lord, I cried out to you,

56 And when I begged you to listen to my cry, you heard.

57 You answered me and told me not to be afraid.

58 “You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.

59 Judge in my favour; you know the wrongs done against me.

60 You know how my enemies hate me and how they plot against me.

61 “You have heard them insult me, O Lord; you know all their plots.

62 All day long they talk about me and make their plans.

63 From morning till night they jeer at me.

64 “Punish them for what they have done, O Lord;

65 Curse them and fill them with despair!
66 Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!”