Lamentations - Chapter 3 | Good News Translation

  • 1. I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.
  • 2. He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness
  • 3. And beat me again and again with merciless blows.
  • 4. He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.
  • 5. He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.
  • 6. He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.
  • 7. He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.
  • 8. I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;
  • 9. I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.
  • 10. He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.
  • 11. He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.
  • 12. He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
  • 13. He shot his arrows deep into my body.
  • 14. People laugh at me all day long; I am a joke to them all.
  • 15. Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.
  • 16. He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on rocks.
  • 17. I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.
  • 18. I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the LORD is gone.
  • 19. The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.
  • 20. I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.
  • 21. Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:
  • 22. The LORD's unfailing love and mercy still continue,
  • 23. Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.
  • 24. The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
  • 25. The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him,
  • 26. So it is best for us to wait in patience---to wait for him to save us---
  • 27. And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.
  • 28. When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience;
  • 29. We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope.
  • 30. Though beaten and insulted, we should accept it all.
  • 31. The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever.
  • 32. He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.
  • 33. He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.
  • 34. The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison;
  • 35. He knows when we are denied the rights he gave us;
  • 36. When justice is perverted in court, he knows.
  • 37. The will of the Lord alone is always carried out.
  • 38. Good and evil alike take place at his command.
  • 39. Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?
  • 40. Let us examine our ways and turn back to the LORD.
  • 41. Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,
  • 42. "We have sinned and rebelled, and you, O LORD, have not forgiven us.
  • 43. "You pursued us and killed us; your mercy was hidden by your anger,
  • 44. By a cloud of fury too thick for our prayers to get through.
  • 45. You have made us the garbage dump of the world.
  • 46. "We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies.
  • 47. We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear.
  • 48. My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people.
  • 49. "My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream
  • 50. Until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees us.
  • 51. My heart is grieved when I see what has happened to the women of the city.
  • 52. "I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.
  • 53. They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.
  • 54. Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.
  • 55. "From the bottom of the pit, O LORD, I cried out to you,
  • 56. And when I begged you to listen to my cry, you heard.
  • 57. You answered me and told me not to be afraid.
  • 58. "You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.
  • 59. Judge in my favor; you know the wrongs done against me.
  • 60. You know how my enemies hate me and how they plot against me.
  • 61. "You have heard them insult me, O LORD; you know all their plots.
  • 62. All day long they talk about me and make their plans.
  • 63. From morning till night they make fun of me.
  • 64. "Punish them for what they have done, O LORD;
  • 65. Curse them and fill them with despair!
  • 66. Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!"
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