Lamentações 3

The man who has seen affliction

¹I am the man who has lived through affliction \q beneath the rod of his anger.^{a 2}He has led me away and made me walk \q in darkness, not in light. ³Yes, it is me he strikes with his hand, \q time after time, all day long.

⁴He has worn out my flesh and skin \q and shattered my bones. ⁵He has built siege walls against me \q and closed me in with bitter poison and hardship. ⁶He has made me live in dark places \q like those who died long ago.

⁷He has hemmed me in, and I cannot get out; \q he has weighed me down with chains. ⁸Even when I shout and plead for help, \q he keeps my prayer out. ⁹He has walled off my road with cut stone; \q he has made my paths twist.

¹⁰To me he is like a bear waiting in ambush, \q like a lion crouching in hiding. ¹¹He dragged me off the road and tore me to pieces; \q he has left me devastated. ¹²He has drawn his bow \q and set me up as a target for arrows.

¹³He has driven deep into my inner being \q the arrows from his quiver. ¹⁴I have become a joke to all my people, \q the song they mock me with all day long.^{b 15}He has fed me full of bitter things \q and made me drink wormwood until I could take no more.

¹⁶He has made me break my teeth on gravel; \q he has trampled me down in the ashes. ¹⁷My soul has been cut off from peace; \q I have forgotten what good is.^{c 18}So I said, “My strength is gone, \q and so is all I hoped for from the LORD.”

¹⁹Remember how I am afflicted and homeless, \q the wormwood and the bitter poison.^{d 20}My soul keeps remembering it \q and is bowed low within me.^{ef 21}Yet I bring this back to mind, \q and because of it I will wait in hope:

²²It is by the LORD’s loyal love that we have not been wiped out, \q for his mercies have not failed.^{g 23}They are new each morning; \q how great is your faithfulness! ²⁴“The LORD is my portion,” I tell myself, \q “and so I will wait for him in hope.”

²⁵The LORD is good to all who wait in hope for him, \q to anyone who seeks him. ²⁶It is good to wait in silence \q for the LORD’s salvation. ²⁷A man does well to take up a yoke \q while he is still young.

²⁸Let him sit by himself and keep silent \q when he has laid it on him. ²⁹Let him lie with his face in the dust; \q there may still be hope for him. ³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him \q and take his fill of insults.

³¹For the Lord does not cast people off \q for all time. ³²Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, \q so great is his loyal love. ³³For he does not bring affliction willingly \q or grief to human beings. ³⁴When all the prisoners in the land \q are crushed underfoot, ³⁵when anyone is denied justice \q in the presence of the Most High, ³⁶when someone is cheated in a lawsuit— \q the Lord does not approve.^h

³⁷Who can speak and make it happen \q if the Lord has not ordered it? ³⁸Do not disaster and good alike \q come out of the mouth of the Most High?^{i 39}Why should any living person complain, \q anyone punished for their sins?^j

Let us return to the LORD

⁴⁰Let us look hard at the way we live and test it, \q and turn back to the LORD. ⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands \q to God in heaven. ⁴²We have sinned and rebelled, \q and you have not forgiven.

⁴³You have clothed yourself in anger and chased us down; \q you have killed and not spared. ⁴⁴You have hidden yourself behind a cloud \q that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵You have turned us into filth and rubbish \q among the peoples.

⁴⁶Our enemies, every one of them, \q have opened their mouths wide against us. ⁴⁷Panic and the pit have overtaken us, \q ruin and collapse. ⁴⁸Streams of tears flow down from my eyes \q over the destruction of my dear people.

⁴⁹My eyes pour out tears and do not stop; \q they get no rest, ⁵⁰until the LORD looks down \q and sees from heaven. ⁵¹What my eyes see brings grief to my soul \q because of all the women of my city.^k

⁵²People who had no reason to be my enemies \q hunted me down like a bird. ⁵³They thrust me into the pit to end my life \q and cast a stone over me. ⁵⁴The waters rose over my head, \q and I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵I called on your name, LORD, \q from the bottom of the pit.^{l 56}You heard my voice: \q “Do not shut your ears to my plea for relief, to my cry for help!” ⁵⁷On the day I called to you, you came close \q and said, “Do not be afraid!”

⁵⁸Lord, you have argued my case for me \q and redeemed my life. ⁵⁹LORD, you have seen how I have been wronged; \q give judgment in my case! ⁶⁰You have seen all their spite, \q all their schemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their insults, LORD, \q all their schemes against me, ⁶²what my attackers say, \q and how they whisper against me all day long. ⁶³Look at them, whether they sit or rise: \q I am the song they mock me with.

⁶⁴Pay them back, LORD, as they deserve, \q for what their hands have done.^{m 65}Give them a veiled and hardened heart; \q let your curse be on them!^{n 66}Chase them down in anger and destroy them \q from beneath the heavens of the LORD.