Lamentations 3

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.

2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.

3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.

4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.

5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.

10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.

11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.

12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.

13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.

14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.

17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”

19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.

21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.

23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”

25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.

29 Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.

31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.

32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.

33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.

34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,

35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,

36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.

37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?

40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.

41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:

42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”

43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.

44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.

45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.

46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.

47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.

48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,

50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.

53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.

54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.

55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.

56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”

57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”

58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.

59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!

60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.

61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—

62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.

63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.

64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

65 Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!

66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.

1 ¶ I [am] the man [that] hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

2 He hath led me, and brought [me into] darkness, but not [into] light.

3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand [against me] all the day.

4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

5 He hath builded against me, and compassed [me] with gall and travail.

6 He hath set me in dark places, as [they that be] dead of old.

7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.

8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.

10 He [was] unto me [as] a bear lying in wait, [and as] a lion in secret places.

11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.

12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

14 I was a derision to all my people; [and] their song all the day.

15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.

16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.

17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.

18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:

19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20 My soul hath [them] still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

21 ¶ This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

22 [It is of] the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 [They are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness.

24 The LORD [is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

25 The LORD [is] good unto them that wait for him, to the soul [that] seeketh him.

26 [It is] good that [a man] should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

27 [It is] good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne [it] upon him.

29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

30 He giveth [his] cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.

31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:

32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.

37 ¶ Who [is] he [that] saith, and it cometh to pass, [when] the Lord commandeth [it] not?

38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?

39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

41 Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands unto God in the heavens.

42 ¶ We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.

43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that [our] prayer should not pass through.

45 Thou hast made us [as] the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.

51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.

52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.

53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.

54 Waters flowed over mine head; [then] I said, I am cut off.

55 ¶ I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.

56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

57 Thou drewest near in the day [that] I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.

58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.

60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance [and] all their imaginations against me.

61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, [and] all their imaginations against me;

62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.

63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I [am] their musick.

64 Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.

66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

1 I am a wretched man, which must see the rod of his fury.

2 He hath led me, and made me go into darkness, and not into light.

3 He hath turned his hand against me, and hath dealt otherwise with me for all things.

4 He hath made old my flesh and my skin, and hath bruised my bones.

4 Reward them, O Lord, according to their deserts.

5 He hath built me up, and compassed me about with gall and trouble.

6 He hath laid me in darkness, as the dead in the world.

7 He hath walled me up, that I cannot come out; he hath put me in hard bonds.

8 And though I cry and shout, he stoppeth mine ears at my prayer.

9 He hath walled up my way with pieces, and turned back my path.

10 He lay in wait for me like a bear, like a lion in secret.

11 He hath made me to lack the way. He hath cut me in pieces, and made me vile.

11 O LORD, thou hearest their reproach, and all their thoughts concerning me,

12 He hath bent his bow, and hath put me to the point of the arrow.

13 He shot from the quiver into my kidneys.

14 I am a mockery to all my people, and daily, their song.

15 He hath satiated me with bitterness, and made me drunken with wormwood.

16 He hath broken my teeth into small pieces. He rolled me in the ashes.

17 My soul is cast out of peace; I must forget the good.

18 And I said, My fortune is gone, and my hope is in the LORD.

19 Remember how I am so miserable and forsaken, soaked with wormwood and gall.

20 Thou shalt remember it, for my soul saith unto me.

21 I take that to heart, so I'm still hoping.

22 The goodness of the LORD is, that we are not finished: his mercy hath no end,

22 Mine enemies have chased me as a bird without a cause. Fifty-three. They killed my life in a pit and threw stones at me.

23 But it is new every morning, and thy faithfulness is great.

24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

25 For the LORD is good to him that waiteth for him, and to the soul that seeketh him.

26 It is a precious thing to be patient, and to hope in the help of the LORD.

26 Thou seest all their vengeance, and all their thoughts against me.

27 It is a precious thing for a man to bear the yoke in his youth,

28 That a forsaken man be patient when anything assails him,

29 and put his mouth in the dust, and wait for hope

29 O Lord, see how I am wronged, and help me to my right!

30 And let him be smitten on the cheeks, and put upon him much reproach.

31 For the LORD doth not cast out for ever,

32 but he will have mercy again according to his great kindness;

33 Because he afflicteth not men with his heart, neither grieveth them,

33 Behold, they go down, or they rise up, they sing of me a little song.

34 As if he would tread all the captives of the earth under his feet.

35 And let a man's right be bent before the Most High.

36 And let a man's cause be perverted, as though the LORD saw it not.

37 Who then can say that these things are done without the commandment of the LORD?

38 And that neither evil nor good come out of the mouth of the Most High?

39 How then do men murmur in life? Let every man murmur against his sin.

40 And let us search and search our nature, and turn unto the LORD.

41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in heaven.

42 We have sinned and been disobedient. Therefore thou hast not spared,

43 But thou hast poured out wrath upon us, and persecuted us, and slain us without mercy.

44 thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that no prayer could pass through.

45 thou hast made us dung and filth among the nations.

46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.

47 We are pressed and afflicted with terror and fear.

48 Mine eyes run with rivers of water over the affliction of the daughter of my people.

49 My eyes flow, and cannot cease; for there is no cessation,

50 Until the LORD look down from heaven, and see therein.

51 my eye eats away my life for the daughter of my city.

54 They have also poured water upon my head. Then said I, Now am I gone.

55 But I called upon thy name, O LORD, from beneath the pit;

56 And thou heardest my voice. Hide not thine ears from my groaning and my crying!

57 Draw nigh unto me when I call thee, and say, Fear not.

58 Lead, O Lord, the cause of my soul, and redeem my life!

62 The lips of mine adversaries, and their poems against me daily.

65 Let their hearts be troubled, and let them feel your curse!

66 Pursue them with fury, and destroy them under the heaven of the LORD!