Lamentations 3

The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

3I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

²He has led me and made me walk

In darkness and not in light.

³Surely He has turned His hand against me

Time and time again throughout the day.

⁴He has aged ^amy flesh and my skin,

And ^bbroken my bones.

⁵He has besieged me

And surrounded me with bitterness and ¹woe.

^6cHe has set me in dark places

Like the dead of long ago.

^7dHe has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;

He has made my chain heavy.

⁸Even ^ewhen I cry and shout,

He shuts out my prayer.

⁹He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;

He has made my paths crooked.

^10fHe has been to me a bear lying in wait,

Like a lion in ²ambush.

¹¹He has turned aside my ways and ^gtorn me in pieces;

He has made me desolate.

¹²He has bent His bow

And ^hset me up as a target for the arrow.

¹³He has caused ⁱthe ³arrows of His quiver

To pierce my ⁴loins.

¹⁴I have become the ^jridicule of all my people—

^kTheir taunting song all the day.

^15lHe has filled me with bitterness,

He has made me drink wormwood.

¹⁶He has also broken my teeth ^mwith gravel,

And ⁵covered me with ashes.

¹⁷You have moved my soul far from peace;

I have forgotten ⁶prosperity.

¹⁸ⁿAnd I said, “My strength and my hope

Have perished from the Lord.”

¹⁹Remember my affliction and roaming,

^oThe wormwood and the ⁷gall.

²⁰My soul still remembers

And ⁸sinks within me.

²¹This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have ^phope.

^22qThrough the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions ^rfail not.

²³They are new ^severy morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

²⁴“The Lord is my ^tportion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I ^uhope in Him!”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who ^vwait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

²⁶It is good that one should ^whope ^xand wait quietly

For the salvation of the Lord.

^27yIt is good for a man to bear

The yoke in his youth.

^28zLet him sit alone and keep silent,

Because God has laid it on him;

^29aLet him put his mouth in the dust—

There may yet be hope.

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

And be full of reproach.

^31cFor the Lord will not cast off forever.

³²Though He causes grief,

Yet He will show compassion

According to the multitude of His mercies.

³³For ^dHe does not afflict ⁹willingly,

Nor grieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush under one’s feet

All the prisoners of the earth,

³⁵To turn aside the justice due a man

Before the face of the Most High,

³⁶Or subvert a man in his cause—

^eThe Lord does not approve.

³⁷Who is he ^fwho speaks and it comes to pass,

When the Lord has not commanded it?

³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

That ^gwoe and well-being proceed?

^39hWhy should a living man ¹complain,

ⁱA man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us search out and examine our ways,

And turn back to the Lord;

^41jLet us lift our hearts and hands

To God in heaven.

^42kWe have transgressed and rebelled;

You have not pardoned.

⁴³You have covered Yourself with anger

And pursued us;

You have slain and not pitied.

⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloud,

That prayer should not pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us an ^loffscouring and refuse

In the midst of the peoples.

^46mAll our enemies

Have opened their mouths against us.

⁴⁷ⁿFear and a snare have come upon us,

^oDesolation and destruction.

^48pMy eyes overflow with rivers of water

For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^49qMy eyes flow and do not cease,

Without interruption,

⁵⁰Till the Lord from heaven

^rLooks down and sees.

⁵¹My eyes bring suffering to my soul

Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²My enemies ^swithout cause

Hunted me down like a bird.

⁵³They ²silenced my life ^tin the pit

And ^uthrew ³stones at me.

^54vThe waters flowed over my head;

^wI said, “I am cut off!”

^55xI called on Your name, O Lord,

From the lowest ^ypit.

^56zYou have heard my voice:

“Do not hide Your ear

From my sighing, from my cry for help.”

⁵⁷You ^adrew near on the day I called on You,

And said, ^b“Do not fear!”

⁵⁸O Lord, You have ^cpleaded the case for my soul;

^dYou have redeemed my life.

⁵⁹O Lord, You have seen ⁴how I am wronged;

^eJudge my case.

⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,

All their ^fschemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their reproach, O Lord,

All their schemes against me,

⁶²The lips of my enemies

And their whispering against me all the day.

⁶³Look at their ^gsitting down and their rising up;

I am their taunting song.

^64hRepay them, O Lord,

According to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵Give them ⁵a veiled heart;

Your curse be upon them!

⁶⁶In Your anger,

Pursue and destroy them

ⁱFrom under the heavens of the ^jLord.