Lamentations 3:34–66

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.