Lamentations 3

  1. Verse 1. I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
  2. Verse 2. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
  3. Verse 3. Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
  4. Verse 4. He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
  5. Verse 5. He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
  6. Verse 6. He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
  7. Verse 7. He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
  8. Verse 8. Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
  9. Verse 9. He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
  10. Verse 10. He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
  11. Verse 11. He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
  12. Verse 12. He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
  13. Verse 13. He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
  14. Verse 14. I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
  15. Verse 15. He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
  16. Verse 16. He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
  17. Verse 17. My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
  18. Verse 18. So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
  19. Verse 19. Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
  20. Verse 20. Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
  21. Verse 21. Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
  22. Verse 22. Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
  23. Verse 23. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
  24. Verse 24. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
  25. Verse 25. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
  26. Verse 26. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
  27. Verse 27. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
  28. Verse 28. Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
  29. Verse 29. Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
  30. Verse 30. Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
  31. Verse 31. For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
  32. Verse 32. Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
  33. Verse 33. For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
  34. Verse 34. To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
  35. Verse 35. to deny a man justice before the Most High,
  36. Verse 36. to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
  37. Verse 37. Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
  38. Verse 38. Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
  39. Verse 39. Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
  40. Verse 40. Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
  41. Verse 41. Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
  42. Verse 42. “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
  43. Verse 43. You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
  44. Verse 44. You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
  45. Verse 45. You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
  46. Verse 46. All our enemies open their mouths against us.
  47. Verse 47. Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
  48. Verse 48. Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
  49. Verse 49. My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
  50. Verse 50. until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
  51. Verse 51. My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
  52. Verse 52. Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
  53. Verse 53. They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
  54. Verse 54. The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
  55. Verse 55. I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
  56. Verse 56. You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
  57. Verse 57. You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
  58. Verse 58. You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
  59. Verse 59. You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
  60. Verse 60. You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
  61. Verse 61. O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
  62. Verse 62. the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
  63. Verse 63. When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
  64. Verse 64. You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
  65. Verse 65. Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
  66. Verse 66. You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.