Lamentations 3
New International Version - Lamentations 3 << | >> 12345 3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 3:2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; 3:3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. 3:4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. 3:5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 3:6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. 3:7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 3:8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. 3:9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. 3:10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, 3:11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. 3:12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. 3:13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. 3:14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. 3:15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. 3:16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. 3:17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 3:18 So I say, 'My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.' 3:19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 3:20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 3:21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 3:22 Because of the Lord 's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 3:23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 3:24 I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.' 3:25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 3:26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 3:27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. 3:28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. 3:29 Let him bury his face in the dust- there may yet be hope. 3:30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. 3:31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. 3:32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. 3:33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. 3:34 To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, 3:35 to deny a man his rights before the Most High, 3:36 to deprive a man of justice- would not the Lord see such things? 3:37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? 3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? 3:39 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. 3:41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: 3:42 'We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. 3:43 'You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. 3:44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. 3:45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. 3:46 'All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. 3:47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.' 3:48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. 3:49 My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, 3:50 until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. 3:51 What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city. 3:52 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. 3:53 They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; 3:54 the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off. 3:55 I called on your name, O Lord , from the depths of the pit. 3:56 You heard my plea: 'Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.' 3:57 You came near when I called you, and you said, 'Do not fear.' 3:58 O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life. 3:59 You have seen, O Lord , the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! 3:60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. 3:61 O Lord , you have heard their insults, all their plots against me- 3:62 what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. 3:63 Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. 3:64 Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord , for what their hands have done. 3:65 Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! 3:66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.