Lamentations 3:34–66

³⁴To crush under His feet

All the prisoners of the ¹land,

³⁵To ¹deprive a man of ^ajustice

In the presence of the Most High,

³⁶To ^1adefraud a man in his lawsuit—

Of these things the Lord does not ²approve.

³⁷Who is ¹there who speaks and it ^acomes to pass,

Unless the Lord has commanded it?

³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

That ^1aboth good and ill go forth?

³⁹Why should any living ¹mortal, or any man,

Offer ^acomplaint ²in view of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us ^aexamine and probe our ways,

And let us return to the Lord.

⁴¹We ^alift up our heart ¹and hands

Toward God in heaven;

⁴²We have ^atransgressed and rebelled,

You have ^bnot pardoned.

⁴³You have covered Yourself with ^aanger

And ^bpursued us;

You have slain and ^chave not spared.

⁴⁴You have ^acovered Yourself with a cloud

So that ^bno prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us mere ^aoffscouring and refuse

In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶All our enemies have ^aopened their mouths against us.

^47aPanic and pitfall have befallen us,

Devastation and destruction;

⁴⁸My ^1aeyes run down with streams of water

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹My eyes pour down ^aunceasingly,

Without stopping,

⁵⁰Until the Lord ^alooks down

And sees from heaven.

⁵¹My eyes bring pain to my soul

Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²My enemies ^awithout cause

Hunted me down ^blike a bird;

⁵³They have silenced ¹me ^ain the pit

And have ^2bplaced a stone on me.

⁵⁴Waters flowed ^aover my head;

I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵I ^acalled on Your name, O Lord,

Out of the lowest pit.

⁵⁶You have ^aheard my voice,

“^bDo not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,

From my cry for help.”

⁵⁷You ^adrew near when I called on You;

You said, “^bDo not fear!”

⁵⁸O Lord, You ^ahave pleaded my soul’s cause;

You have ^bredeemed my life.

⁵⁹O Lord, You have ^aseen my oppression;

^bJudge my case.

⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,

All their ^aschemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their ^areproach, O Lord,

All their schemes against me.

⁶²The ^alips of my assailants and their whispering

Are against me all day long.

⁶³Look on their ^asitting and their rising;

^bI am their mocking song.

⁶⁴You will ^arecompense them, O Lord,

According to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵You will give them ^1ahardness of heart,

Your curse will be on them.

⁶⁶You will ^apursue them in anger and destroy them

From under the ^bheavens of the Lord!