Lamentations 3

¹ I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;

² he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;

³ surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.

⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;

⁵ he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;

⁶ he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.

⁷ He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;

⁸ though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;

⁹ he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding;

¹¹ he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;

¹² he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.

¹³ He drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver;

¹⁴ I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long.

¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.

¹⁶ He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;

¹⁷ my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;

¹⁸ so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD."

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!

²⁰ My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.

²¹ But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

²² The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;

²³ they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.

²⁴ "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.

²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷ It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him;

²⁹ let him put his mouth in the dust-- there may yet be hope;

³⁰ let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.

³¹ For the Lord will not cast off for ever,

³² but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

³³ for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.

³⁴ To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,

³⁵ to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High,

³⁶ to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.

³⁷ Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?

³⁹ Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!

⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:

⁴² "We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven.

⁴³ "Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity;

⁴⁴ thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵ Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples.

⁴⁶ "All our enemies rail against us;

⁴⁷ panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction;

⁴⁸ my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,

⁵⁰ until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees;

⁵¹ my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city.

⁵² "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;

⁵³ they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;

⁵⁴ water closed over my head; 'I said, I am lost.'

⁵⁵ "I called on thy name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;

⁵⁶ thou didst hear my plea, 'Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!'

⁵⁷ Thou didst come near when I called on thee; thou didst say, 'Do not fear!'

⁵⁸ "Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life.

⁵⁹ Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge thou my cause.

⁶⁰ Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.

⁶¹ "Thou hast heard their taunts, O LORD, all their devices against me.

⁶² The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.

⁶³ Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the burden of their songs.

⁶⁴ "Thou wilt requite them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵ Thou wilt give them dullness of heart; thy curse will be on them.

⁶⁶ Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them from under thy heavens, O LORD."