Lamentations - Chapter 3 | New International Version

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