Lamentations 3:1–36

kI am the man who has seen affliction

under the lrod of his wrath;

he has driven and brought me

minto darkness without any light;

surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long.

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;

nhe has broken my bones;

ohe has besieged and enveloped me

with pbitterness and tribulation;

qhe has made me dwell in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

rHe has walled me about so that sI cannot escape;

he has made my chains heavy;

though tI call and cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

rhe has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

he has made my paths crooked.

10  uHe is a bear lying in wait for me,

a lion in hiding;

11  vhe turned aside my steps and utore me to pieces;

whe has made me desolate;

12  xhe bent his bow yand set me

as a target for his arrow.

13  He drove into my kidneys

zthe arrows of his quiver;

14  aI have become the laughingstock of all peoples,

bthe object of their taunts all day long.

15  cHe has filled me with bitterness;

he has sated me with dwormwood.

16  eHe has made my teeth grind on gravel,

and fmade me cower in ashes;

17  my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness1 is;

18  gso I say, My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.

19  hRemember my affliction and my wanderings,

dthe wormwood and ithe gall!

20  My soul continually remembers it

jand is bowed down within me.

21  But this I call to mind,

and ktherefore I have hope:

22  lThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;2

lhis mercies never come to an end;

23  they are new mevery morning;

ngreat is your faithfulness.

24  oThe Lord is my portion, says my soul,

ktherefore I will hope in him.

25  The Lord is good to those who pwait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

26  qIt is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

27  rIt is good for a man that he bear

the yoke sin his youth.

28  Let him tsit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

29  ulet him put his mouth in the dust

there may yet be hope;

30  vlet him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

31  wFor the Lord will not

cast off forever,

32  but, though he xcause grief, yhe will have compassion

zaccording to the abundance of his steadfast love;

33  afor he does not afflict from his heart

or bgrieve the children of men.

34  To crush underfoot

all cthe prisoners of the earth,

35  dto deny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

36  to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

dthe Lord does not approve.

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2 View All Leviticus 19:27