Lamentations 3

¹ I am the man familiar with misery under the rod of his fury.

² He has led and guided me into darkness, not light.

³ Against none but me does he turn his hand, again and again, al day.

⁴ He has wasted my flesh and skin away, has broken my bones.

⁵ He has besieged me and made hardship a circlet round my head.

⁶ He has forced me to dwel where al is dark, like those long-dead in their everlasting home.

⁷ He has walled me in so that I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains;

⁸ even when I shout for help, he shuts out my prayer.

⁹ He has closed my way with blocks of stone, he has obstructed my paths.

¹⁰ For me he is a lurking bear, a lion in hiding.

¹¹ Heading me off, he has torn me apart, leaving me shattered.

¹² He has bent his bow and used me as a target for his arrows.

¹³ He has shot deep into me with shafts from his quiver.

¹⁴ I have become a joke to al my own people, their refrain all day long.

¹⁵ He has given me my fil of bitterness, he has made me drunk with wormwood.

¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel, he has fed me on ashes.

¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is

¹⁸ and thought, 'My lasting hope in Yahweh is lost.'

¹⁹ Bring to mind my misery and anguish; it is wormwood and gall!

²⁰ My heart dwel s on this continual y and sinks within me.

²¹ This is what I shal keep in mind and so regain some hope:

²² Surely Yahweh's mercies are not over, his deeds of faithful love not exhausted;

²³ every morning they are renewed; great is his faithfulness!

²⁴ 'Yahweh is al I have,' I say to myself, 'and so I shal put my hope in him.'

²⁵ Yahweh is good to those who trust him, to al who search for him.

²⁶ It is good to wait in silence for Yahweh to save.

²⁷ It is good for someone to bear the yoke from a young age,

²⁸ to sit in solitude and silence when it weighs heavy,

²⁹ to lay one's head in the dust -- maybe there is hope-

³⁰ to offer one's cheek to the striker, to have one's fil of disgrace!

³¹ For the Lord will not reject anyone for ever.

³² If he brings grief, he wil have pity out of the ful ness of his faithful love,

³³ for it is not for his own pleasure that he torments and grieves the human race.

³⁴ When al the prisoners in a country are crushed underfoot,

³⁵ when human rights are overridden in defiance of the Most High,

³⁶ when someone is cheated of justice, does not the Lord see it?

³⁷ Who has only to speak and it is so done? Who commands, if not the Lord?

³⁸ From where, if not from the mouth of the Most High, do evil and good come?

³⁹ Why then should anyone complain? Better to be bold against one's sins.

⁴⁰ Let us examine our path, let us ponder it and return to Yahweh.

⁴¹ Let us raise our hearts and hands to God in heaven.

⁴² We are the ones who have sinned, who have rebel ed, and you have not forgiven.

⁴³ You have enveloped us in anger, pursuing us, slaughtering without pity.

⁴⁴ You have wrapped yourself in a cloud too thick for prayer to pierce.

⁴⁵ You have reduced us to rubbish and refuse among the nations.

⁴⁶ Our enemies open their mouths in chorus against us.

⁴⁷ Terror and pitfal have been our lot, ravage and ruin.

⁴⁸ My eyes dissolve in torrents of tears at the ruin of my beloved people.

⁴⁹ My eyes wil weep ceaselessly, without relief,

⁵⁰ until Yahweh looks down and sees from heaven.

⁵¹ My eyes have grown sore over al the daughters of my city.

⁵² Unprovoked, my enemies hunted me down like a bird.

⁵³ They shut me final y in a pit, they closed me in with a stone.

⁵⁴ The waters rose over my head; I thought, 'I am lost!'

⁵⁵ Yahweh, I called on your name from the deep pit.

⁵⁶ You heard my voice, do not close your ear to my prayer, to my cry.

⁵⁷ You are near when I cal to you. You said, 'Do not be afraid!'

⁵⁸ Lord, you defended my cause, you have redeemed my life.

⁵⁹ Yahweh, you have seen the wrong done to me, grant me redress.

⁶⁰ You have seen their vindictiveness, al their plots against me.

⁶¹ You have heard their insults, Yahweh, al their plots against me,

⁶² the whispering and murmuring of my enemies against me all day long.

⁶³ Look, whether they sit or stand, I am their refrain.

⁶⁴ Yahweh, repay them as their deeds deserve.

⁶⁵ Lay hardness of heart as your curse on them.

⁶⁶ Angrily pursue them, root them out from under your heavens!