Lamentations 3

The Prophet’s Afflictions

¹I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of God’s wrath.

²He has driven me away and made me walk

in darkness instead of light.

³Indeed, He keeps turning His hand

against me all day long.

⁴He has worn away my flesh and skin;

He has shattered my bones.

⁵He has besieged me and surrounded me

with bitterness and hardship.

⁶He has made me dwell in darkness

like those dead for ages.

⁷He has walled me in so I cannot escape;

He has weighed me down with chains.

⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help,

He shuts out my prayer.

⁹He has barred my ways with cut stones;

He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He is a bear lying in wait,

a lion hiding in ambush.

¹¹He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces;

He left me without help.

¹²He bent His bow

and set me as the target for His arrow.

¹³He pierced my kidneys

with His arrows.

¹⁴I am a laughingstock to all my people;

they mock me in song all day long.

¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness;

He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

¹⁶He has ground my teeth with gravel

and trampled me in the dust.

¹⁷My soul has been deprived of peace;

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

¹⁸So I say, “My strength has perished,

along with my hope from the LORD.”

The Prophet’s Hope

¹⁹Remember my affliction and wandering,

the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰Surely my soul remembers

and is humbled within me.

²¹Yet I call this to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

²²Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed,

for His mercies never fail.

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 to wait quietly

for the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷It is good for a man to bear the yoke

while he is still young.

²⁸Let him sit alone in silence,

for the LORD has laid it upon him.

²⁹Let him bury his face in the dust—

perhaps there is still hope.

³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him;

let him be filled with reproach.

³¹For the Lord will not

cast us off forever.

³²Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion

according to His abundant loving devotion.

³³For He does not willingly afflict

or grieve the sons of men.

³⁴To crush underfoot

all the prisoners of the land,

³⁵to deny a man justice

before the Most High,

³⁶to subvert a man in his lawsuit—

of these the Lord does not approve.

God’s Justice

³⁷Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has ordained it?

³⁸Do not both adversity and good

come from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹Why should any mortal man complain,

in view of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways,

and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:1

⁴²“We have sinned and rebelled;

You have not forgiven.”

⁴³You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;

You have killed without pity.

⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloud

that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us scum and refuse

among the nations.

⁴⁶All our enemies

open their mouths against us.

⁴⁷Panic and pitfall have come upon us—

devastation and destruction.

⁴⁸Streams of tears flow from my eyes

over the destruction of the daughter of my people.1

⁴⁹My eyes overflow unceasingly,

without relief,

⁵⁰until the LORD

looks down from heaven and sees.

⁵¹My eyes bring grief to my soul

because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²Without cause my enemies

hunted me like a bird.

⁵³They dropped me alive into a pit

and cast stones upon me.

⁵⁴The waters flowed over my head,

and I thought I was going to die.

⁵⁵I called on Your name, O LORD,

out of the depths of the Pit.

⁵⁶You heard my plea:

“Do not ignore my cry for relief.”

⁵⁷You drew near when I called on You;

You said, “Do not be afraid.”

⁵⁸You defend my cause, O Lord;

You redeem my life.

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

vindicate my cause!

⁶⁰You have seen all their malice,

all their plots against me.

⁶¹O LORD, You have heard their insults,

all their plots against me—

⁶²the slander and murmuring of my assailants

against me all day long.

⁶³When they sit and when they rise,

see how they mock me in song.

⁶⁴You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,

according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵Put a veil of anguish over their hearts;

may Your curse be upon them!

⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them

from under Your heavens, O LORD.