Lamentations - Chapter 3

1I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath. 2By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light. 3Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day. 4My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken. 5He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow. 6He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead. 7He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain. 8Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out. 9He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted. 10He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places. 11By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste. 12With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows. 13He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body. 14I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day. 15He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure. 16By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust. 17My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good. 18And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord. 19Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison. 20My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me. 21This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope. 22It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit. 23They are new every morning; great is your good faith. 24I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him. 25The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him. 26It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord. 27It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young. 28Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him. 29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope. 30Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame. 31For the Lord does not give a man up for ever. 32For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love. 33For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men. 34In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, 35In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High. 36In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure. 37Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord? 38Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High? 39What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin? 40Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord; 41Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens. 42We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness. 43Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity; 44Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through. 45You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples. 46The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us. 47Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction. 48Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest, 50Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven. 51The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town. 52They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird; 53They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones. 54Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off. 55I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison. 56My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry. 57You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear. 58O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe. 59O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause. 60You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me. 61Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me; 62The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day. 63Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song. 64You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands. 65You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them. 66You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.