Lamentations, 3

3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.

3:2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.

3:3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.

3:4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.

3:5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

3:6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.

3:7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.

3:8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

3:9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.

3:10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.

3:11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.

3:12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.

3:13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.

3:14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

3:15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

3:16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.

3:17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

3:18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”

3:19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

3:20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.

3:21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:

3:22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.

3:23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

3:24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”

3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.

3:26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

3:27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.

3:28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.

3:29 Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope.

3:30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.

3:31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.

3:32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.

3:33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.

3:34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,

3:35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,

3:36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.

3:37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

3:38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

3:39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?

3:40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.

3:41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:

3:42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”

3:43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.

3:44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.

3:45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.

3:46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.

3:47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.

3:48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.

3:49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,

3:50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

3:51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

3:52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.

3:53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.

3:54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.

3:55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.

3:56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”

3:57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”

3:58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.

3:59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!

3:60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.

3:61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—

3:62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.

3:63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.

3:64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

3:65 Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!

3:66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.