Lamentations 3

₁I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of his wrath;

₂he has driven and brought me

into darkness without any light;

₃surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long.

₄He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;

he has broken my bones;

₅he has besieged and enveloped me

with bitterness and tribulation;

₆he has made me dwell in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

₇He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;

he has made my chains heavy;

₈though I call and cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

₉he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

he has made my paths crooked.

₁₀He is a bear lying in wait for me,

a lion in hiding;

₁₁he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;

he has made me desolate;

₁₂he bent his bow and set me

as a target for his arrow.

₁₃He drove into my kidneys

the arrows of his quiver;

₁₄I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,

the object of their taunts all day long.

₁₅He has filled me with bitterness;

he has sated me with wormwood.

₁₆He has made my teeth grind on gravel,

and made me cower in ashes;

₁₇my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness is;

₁₈so I say, “My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.”

₁₉Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

the wormwood and the gall!

₂₀My soul continually remembers it

and is bowed down within me.

₂₁But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

₂₂The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

₂₃they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

₂₄“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

₂₅The Lord is good to those who wait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

₂₆It is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

₂₇It is good for a man that he bear

the yoke in his youth.

₂₈Let him sit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

₂₉let him put his mouth in the dust—

there may yet be hope;

₃₀let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

₃₁For the Lord will not

cast off forever,

₃₂but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

₃₃for he does not afflict from his heart

or grieve the children of men.

₃₄To crush underfoot

all the prisoners of the earth,

₃₅to deny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

₃₆to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

the Lord does not approve.

₃₇Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

₃₈Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good and bad come?

₃₉Why should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

₄₀Let us test and examine our ways,

and return to the Lord!

₄₁Let us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

₄₂“We have transgressed and rebelled,

and you have not forgiven.

₄₃“You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,

killing without pity;

₄₄you have wrapped yourself with a cloud

so that no prayer can pass through.

₄₅You have made us scum and garbage

among the peoples.

₄₆“All our enemies

open their mouths against us;

₄₇panic and pitfall have come upon us,

devastation and destruction;

₄₈my eyes flow with rivers of tears

because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

₄₉“My eyes will flow without ceasing,

without respite,

₅₀until the Lord from heaven

looks down and sees;

₅₁my eyes cause me grief

at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

₅₂“I have been hunted like a bird

by those who were my enemies without cause;

₅₃they flung me alive into the pit

and cast stones on me;

₅₄water closed over my head;

I said, ‘I am lost.’

₅₅“I called on your name, O Lord,

from the depths of the pit;

₅₆you heard my plea, ‘Do not close

your ear to my cry for help!’

₅₇You came near when I called on you;

you said, ‘Do not fear!’

₅₈“You have taken up my cause, O Lord;

you have redeemed my life.

₅₉You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;

judge my cause.

₆₀You have seen all their vengeance,

all their plots against me.

₆₁“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,

all their plots against me.

₆₂The lips and thoughts of my assailants

are against me all the day long.

₆₃Behold their sitting and their rising;

I am the object of their taunts.

₆₄“You will repay them, O Lord,

according to the work of their hands.

₆₅You will give them dullness of heart;

your curse will be on them.

₆₆You will pursue them in anger and destroy them

from under your heavens, O Lord.”