Lamentations - Chapter 3 | New King James Version

  • 1. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
  • 2. He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
  • 3. Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
  • 4. He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
  • 5. He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
  • 6. He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
  • 7. He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
  • 8. Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
  • 9. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
  • 10. He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
  • 11. He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
  • 12. He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
  • 13. He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.*
  • 14. I have become the ridicule of all my people-- Their taunting song all the day.
  • 15. He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
  • 16. He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
  • 17. You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
  • 18. And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord."
  • 19. Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
  • 20. My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
  • 21. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
  • 22. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
  • 23. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
  • 24. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
  • 25. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
  • 26. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.
  • 27. It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
  • 28. Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him;
  • 29. Let him put his mouth in the dust-- There may yet be hope.
  • 30. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach.
  • 31. For the Lord will not cast off forever.
  • 32. Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies.
  • 33. For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
  • 34. To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth,
  • 35. To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High,
  • 36. Or subvert a man in his cause-- The Lord does not approve.
  • 37. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it?
  • 38. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed?
  • 39. Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?
  • 40. Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord;
  • 41. Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven.
  • 42. We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned.
  • 43. You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and not pitied.
  • 44. You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through.
  • 45. You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.
  • 46. All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us.
  • 47. Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction.
  • 48. My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
  • 49. My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption,
  • 50. Till the Lord from heaven Looks down and sees.
  • 51. My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.
  • 52. My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird.
  • 53. They silenced* my life in the pit And threw stones at me.
  • 54. The waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!"
  • 55. I called on Your name, O Lord, From the lowest pit.
  • 56. You have heard my voice: "Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help."
  • 57. You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, "Do not fear!"
  • 58. O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life.
  • 59. O Lord, You have seen how I am wronged; Judge my case.
  • 60. You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me.
  • 61. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, All their schemes against me,
  • 62. The lips of my enemies And their whispering against me all the day.
  • 63. Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song.
  • 64. Repay them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands.
  • 65. Give them a veiled* heart; Your curse be upon them!
  • 66. In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the Lord.
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