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