Lamentations 3:1–5:22
The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope
3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged amy flesh and my skin,
And bbroken my bones.
And surrounded me with bitterness and 1woe.
6 cHe has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.
7 dHe has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even ewhen I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 fHe has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in 2ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and gtorn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
And hset me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused ithe 3arrows of His quiver
To pierce my 4loins.
14 I have become the jridicule of all my people—
kTheir taunting song all the day.
15 lHe has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth mwith gravel,
And 5covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten 6prosperity.
18 nAnd I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and roaming,
And 8sinks within me.
Therefore I have phope.
22 qThrough the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions rfail not.
23 They are new severy morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my tportion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I uhope in Him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who vwait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should whope xand wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 yIt is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 zLet him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
29 aLet him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
30 bLet him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.
31 cFor the Lord will not cast off forever.
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For dHe does not afflict 9willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.
All the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
eThe Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he fwho speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That gwoe and well-being proceed?
39 hWhy should a living man 1complain,
iA man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
41 jLet us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
42 kWe have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us an loffscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
46 mAll our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47 nFear and a snare have come upon us,
oDesolation and destruction.
48 pMy eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 qMy eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
rLooks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies swithout cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
53 They 2silenced my life tin the pit
54 vThe waters flowed over my head;
wI said, “I am cut off!”
55 xI called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest ypit.
56 zYou have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
57 You adrew near on the day I called on You,
And said, b“Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, You have cpleaded the case for my soul;
dYou have redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, You have seen 4how I am wronged;
eJudge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their fschemes against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
And their whispering against me all the day.
63 Look at their gsitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.
64 hRepay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
65 Give them 5a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
Pursue and destroy them
iFrom under the heavens of the jLord.
4 How the gold has become dim!
How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are 1scattered
At the head of every street.
2Valuable as fine gold,
How they are 3regarded aas clay pots,
The work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even the jackals present their breasts
To nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is cruel,
bLike ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth for thirst;
cThe young children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
Are desolate in the streets;
Those who were brought up in scarlet
dEmbrace ash heaps.
6 The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the punishment of the esin of Sodom,
Which was foverthrown in a moment,
With no hand to help her!
7 Her 4Nazirites were 5brighter than snow
And whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Like sapphire in their 6appearance.
8 Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets;
gTheir skin clings to their bones,
It has become as dry as wood.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off
Than those who die of hunger;
For these hpine away,
Stricken for lack of the fruits of the ifield.
10 The hands of the jcompassionate women
Have 7cooked their kown children;
They became lfood for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
mHe has poured out His fierce anger.
nHe kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.
And all inhabitants of the world,
Would not have believed
That the adversary and the enemy
Could oenter the gates of Jerusalem—
13 pBecause of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
qWho shed in her midst
The blood of the just.
14 They wandered blind in the streets;
rThey have defiled themselves with blood,
sSo that no one would touch their garments.
“Go away, tunclean!
Go away, go away,
Do not touch us!”
When they fled and wandered,
Those among the nations said,
“They shall no longer dwell here.”
16 The 8face of the Lord scattered them;
He no longer regards them.
uThe people do not respect the priests
Nor show favor to the elders.
17 Still vour eyes failed us,
Watching vainly for our help;
In our watching we watched
For a nation that could not save us.
So that we could not walk in our streets.
xOur end was near;
Our days were over,
For our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were yswifter
Than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains
And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The zbreath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,
aWas caught in their pits,
Of whom we said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of bEdom,
You who dwell in the land of Uz!
cThe cup shall also pass over to you
And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.
22 dThe punishment of your iniquity 1is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion;
He will no longer send you into captivity.
eHe will punish your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom;
He will uncover your sins!
5 Remember, aO Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold bour reproach!
2 cOur inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like dwidows.
4 We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
We labor and have no rest.
6 fWe have given our hand gto the Egyptians
And the hAssyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 iOur fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
11 They jravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
13 Young men kground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.
14 The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their lmusic.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into mmourning.
16 nThe crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our heart is faint;
oBecause of these things our eyes grow dim;
18 Because of Mount Zion which is pdesolate,
With foxes walking about on it.
19 You, O Lord, qremain forever;
rYour throne from generation to generation.
20 sWhy do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?
21 tTurn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be 2restored;
Renew our days as of old,
22 Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!