Lamentations
3
- I am the man who has seen affliction by
the rod of his wrath.
- He has driven me away and made me walk in
darkness rather than light;
- indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
- He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
- He has besieged me and surrounded me with
bitterness and hardship.
- He has made me dwell in darkness like those
long dead.
- He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
- Even when I call out or cry for help, he
shuts out my prayer.
- He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.
- Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in
hiding,
- he dragged me from the path and mangled
me and left me without help.
- He drew his bow and made me the target for
his arrows.
- He pierced my heart with arrows from his
quiver.
- I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
- He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated
me with gall.
- He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has
trampled me in the dust.
- I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten
what prosperity is.
- So I say, "My splendor is gone and
all that I had hoped from the LORD."
- I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
- I well remember them, and my soul is downcast
within me.
- Yet this I call to mind and therefore I
have hope:
- Because of the LORD'S great love we are
not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
- They are new every morning; great is your
faithfulness.
- I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
- The LORD is good to those whose hope is
in him, to the one who seeks him;
- it is good to wait quietly for the salvation
of the LORD.
- It is good for a man to bear the yoke while
he is young.
- Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD
has laid it on him.
- Let him bury his face in the dust -- there
may yet be hope.
- Let him offer his cheek to one who would
strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
- For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.
- Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
- For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
- To crush underfoot all prisoners in the
land,
- to deny a man his rights before the Most
High,
- to deprive a man of justice -- would not
the Lord see such things ?
- Who can speak and have it happen if the
Lord has not decreed it ?
- Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come ?
- Why should any living man complain when
punished for his sins ?
- Let us examine our ways and test them, and
let us return to the LORD.
- Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
- "We have sinned and rebelled and you
have not forgiven.
- "You have covered yourself with anger
and pursued us; you have slain without pity.
- You have covered yourself with a cloud so
that no prayer can get through.
- You have made us scum and refuse among the
nations.
- "All our enemies have opened their
mouths wide against us.
- We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin
and destruction."
- Streams of tears flow from my eyes because
my people are destroyed.
- My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,
- until the LORD looks down from heaven and
sees.
- What I see brings grief to my soul because
of all the women of my city.
- Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.
- They tried to end my life in a pit and threw
stones at me;
- the waters closed over my head, and I thought
I was about to be cut off.
- I called on your name, O LORD, from the
depths of the pit.
- You heard my plea: "Do not close your
ears to my cry for relief."
- You came near when I called you, and you
said, "Do not fear."
- O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed
my life.
- You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to
me. Uphold my cause!
- You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
- O LORD, you have heard their insults, all
their plots against me --
- what my enemies whisper and mutter against
me all day long.
- Look at them! Sitting or standing, they
mock me in their songs.
- Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,
for what their hands have done.
- Put a veil over their hearts, and may your
curse be on them !
- Pursue them in anger and destroy them from
under the heavens of the LORD.
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