Lamentations 3

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 I am a man who knows affliction from the rod of his anger,	1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 One whom he has led and forced to walk in darkness, not in the light;	2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Against me alone he brings back his hand again and again all the day.	3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 He has worn away my flesh and my skin, he has broken my bones;	4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He has beset me round about with poverty and weariness;	5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He has left me to dwell in the dark like those long dead.	6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He has hemmed me in with no escape and weighed me down with chains;	7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out for help, he stops my prayer;	8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with fitted stones, and turned my paths aside.	9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 A lurking bear he has been to me, a lion in ambush!	10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He deranged my ways, set me astray, left me desolate.	11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He bent his bow, and set me up as the target for his arrow.	12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He pierces my sides with shafts from his quiver.	13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I have become a laughingstock for all nations, their taunt all the day long;	14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He has sated me with bitter food, made me drink my fill of wormwood.	15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel, pressed my face in the dust;	16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;	17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18 I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the LORD.	18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
19 The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall;	19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me.	20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 But I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope:	21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;	22 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.	23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 My portion is the LORD, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.	24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him;	25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the LORD.	26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth.	27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and in silence, when it is laid upon him.	28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 Let him put his mouth to the dust; there may yet be hope.	29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to be struck, let him be filled with disgrace.	30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord's rejection does not last forever;	31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 Though he punishes, he takes pity, in the abundance of his mercies;	32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 He has no joy in afflicting or grieving the sons of men.	33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 When anyone tramples underfoot all the prisoners in the land,	34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 When he distorts men's rights in the very sight of the Most High,	35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 When he presses a crooked claim, the Lord does not look on unconcerned.	36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 Who commands so that it comes to pass, except the Lord ordains it;	37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Except it proceeds from the mouth of the Most High, whether the thing be good or bad!	38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Why should any living man complain, any mortal, in the face of his sins?	39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and examine our ways that we may return to the LORD!	40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41 Let us reach out our hearts toward God in heaven!	41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have sinned and rebelled; you have not forgiven us.	42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43 You veiled yourself in wrath and pursued us, you slew us and took no pity;	43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 You wrapped yourself in a cloud which prayer could not pierce.	44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us offscourings and refuse among the nations.	45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us;	46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Terror and the pit have been our lot, desolation and destruction;	47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes run with streams of water over the downfall of the daughter of my people.	48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow without ceasing, there is no respite,	49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 Till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees.	50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
51 My eyes torment my soul at the sight of all the daughters of my city.	51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird;	52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They struck me down alive in the pit, and sealed me in with a stone.	53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I said, "I am lost!"	54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called upon your name, O LORD, from the bottom of the pit;	55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 You heard me call, "Let not your ear be deaf to my cry for help!"	56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 You came to my aid when I called to you; you said, "Have no fear!"	57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 You defended me in mortal danger, you redeemed my life.	58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59 You see, O LORD, how I am wronged; do me justice!	59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60 You see all their vindictiveness, all their plots against me.	60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 You hear their insults, O LORD, (all their plots against me),	61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
62 The whispered murmurings of my foes, against me all the day;	62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 Whether they sit or stand, see, I am their taunt song.	63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64 Requite them as they deserve, O LORD, according to their deeds;	64 Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them hardness of heart, as your curse upon them;	65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66 Pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under your heavens!	66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.