Lamentations 3–5

Great Is Your Faithfulness

3^kI am the man who has seen affliction

under the ^lrod of his wrath;

²he has driven and brought me

^minto darkness without any light;

³surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long.

⁴He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;

ⁿhe has broken my bones;

^5ohe has besieged and enveloped me

with ^pbitterness and tribulation;

^6qhe has made me dwell in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

^7rHe has walled me about so that ^sI cannot escape;

he has made my chains heavy;

⁸though ^tI call and cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

^9rhe has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

he has made my paths crooked.

^10uHe is a bear lying in wait for me,

a lion in hiding;

^11vhe turned aside my steps and ^utore me to pieces;

^whe has made me desolate;

^12xhe bent his bow ^yand set me

as a target for his arrow.

¹³He drove into my kidneys

^zthe arrows of his quiver;

^14aI have become the laughingstock of all my people,¹

^bthe object of their taunts all day long.

^15cHe has filled me with bitterness;

he has sated me with ^dwormwood.

^16eHe has made my teeth grind on gravel,

and ^fmade me cower in ashes;

¹⁷my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness² is;

^18gso I say, “My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.”

^19hRemember my affliction and my wanderings,

^dthe wormwood and ⁱthe gall!

²⁰My soul continually remembers it

^jand is bowed down within me.

²¹But this I call to mind,

and ^ktherefore I have hope:

^22lThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;³

^lhis mercies never come to an end;

²³they are new ^mevery morning;

ⁿgreat is your faithfulness.

^24o“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

^k“therefore I will hope in him.”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who ^pwait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

^26qIt is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

^27rIt is good for a man that he bear

the yoke ^sin his youth.

²⁸Let him ^tsit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

^29ulet him put his mouth in the dust—

there may yet be hope;

^30vlet him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

^31wFor the Lord will not

cast off forever,

³²for, though he ^xcause grief, ^yhe will have compassion

^zaccording to the abundance of his steadfast love;

^33afor he does not afflict from his heart

or ^bgrieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush underfoot

all ^cthe prisoners of the earth,

^35dto deny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

³⁶to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

^dthe Lord does not approve.

^37eWho has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

^38fIs it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good and bad come?

^39gWhy should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us test and examine our ways,

^hand return to the Lord!

⁴¹ⁱLet us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

^42j“We have transgressed and ^krebelled,

and you have not forgiven.

⁴³“You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,

^lkilling without pity;

^44myou have wrapped yourself with a cloud

so that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵ⁿYou have made us scum and garbage

among the peoples.

^46o“All our enemies

open their mouths against us;

^47ppanic and pitfall have come upon us,

devastation and ^qdestruction;

^48rmy eyes flow with rivers of tears

because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^49r“My eyes will flow without ceasing,

without respite,

^50suntil the Lord from heaven

looks down and sees;

⁵¹my eyes cause me grief

at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

^52t“I have been hunted ^ulike a bird

by those who were my enemies ^vwithout cause;

^53wthey flung me alive into the pit⁴

^xand cast stones on me;

^54ywater closed over my head;

I said, ^z‘I am lost.’

^55a“I called on your name, O Lord,

from the depths of the pit;

^56byou heard my plea, ‘Do not close

your ear to my cry for help!’

^57cYou came near when I called on you;

you said, ^d‘Do not fear!’

⁵⁸“You have ^etaken up my cause, ^fO Lord;

you have ^eredeemed my life.

⁵⁹You have seen the wrong done to me, ^gO Lord;

judge my cause.

⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,

all ^htheir plots against me.

⁶¹ⁱ“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,

all ^htheir plots against me.

⁶²The lips and thoughts ^jof my assailants

are against me all the day long.

^63kBehold their sitting and their rising;

^lI am the object of their taunts.

^64m“You will repay them,⁵ O Lord,

ⁿaccording to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵You will give them⁶ dullness of heart;

your curse will be⁷ on them.

⁶⁶You will pursue them⁸ in anger and ^odestroy them

from under ^pyour heavens, O Lord.”⁹

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

4^qHow the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

^rat the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in ^sfine gold,

how they are regarded as ^tearthen pots,

the work of a potter’s hands!

³Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the nursing infant ^usticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

^vthe children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

⁵Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

^wthose who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

^6xFor the chastisement¹ of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment² of Sodom,

^ywhich was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.³

⁷Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form⁴ was like sapphire.⁵

^8zNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

⁹Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

^10aThe hands of ^bcompassionate women

^chave boiled their own children;

^dthey became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^11eThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and ^fhe kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

^12gThe kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³This was for ^hthe sins of her prophets

and ^hthe iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

¹⁴ⁱThey wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

^jthat no one was able to touch

their garments.

¹⁵“Away! ^kUnclean!” people cried at them.

“Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

^16lThe Lord himself⁶ has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

^mno honor was shown to the priests,

ⁿno favor to the elders.

^17oOur eyes failed, ever watching

^ovainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for ^pa nation which could not save.

^18qThey dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

^rour end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were ^sswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

^20tThe breath of our nostrils, ^uthe Lord’s anointed,

was captured ^vin their pits,

of whom we said, ^w“Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

^21xRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in ^ythe land of Uz;

but to you also ^zthe cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

^22aThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;⁷

but ^byour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

5^cRemember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see ^dour disgrace!

^2eOur inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our homes to foreigners.

³We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

⁴We must pay for the water we drink;

the wood we get must be bought.

^5fOur pursuers are at our necks;

we are weary; we are given no rest.

⁶We have given the hand to ^gEgypt, and to ^gAssyria,

to get bread enough.

⁷Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

^hand we bear their iniquities.

⁸ⁱSlaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

^9jWe get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

^10kOur skin is hot as an oven

with ^lthe burning heat of famine.

¹¹Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

^12mPrinces are hung up by their hands;

ⁿno respect is shown to the elders.

¹³Young men are compelled to ^ogrind at the mill,

and boys stagger ^punder loads of wood.

¹⁴ⁿThe old men have left the city gate,

the young men ^qtheir music.

^15qThe joy of our hearts has ceased;

^rour dancing has been turned to mourning.

^16sThe crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷For this ^tour heart has become sick,

for these things ^uour eyes have grown dim,

¹⁸for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

^vjackals prowl over it.

^19wBut you, O Lord, reign forever;

your throne endures to all generations.

^20xWhy do you forget us forever,

why do you forsake us for so many days?

^21yRestore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!

Renew our days as of old—

^22zunless you have utterly rejected us,

and you remain exceedingly angry with us.