Lamentações 3

Hope through God’s Mercy

א Aleph

1 I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of God’s wrath.

2 He has driven me away and forced me to walk

in darkness instead of light.  * 3:2 Jb 12:25; Am 5:18,20

3 Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand

against me all day long.

ב Beth

4 He has worn away my flesh and skin;  * 3:4 Jb 13:28; Ps 32:3; 38:3; 49:14; Mc 3:1–3

he has broken my bones.  * 3:4 Ps 51:8; Is 38:13

5 He has laid siege against me,  * 3:5 Jb 19:8,12

encircling me with bitterness and hardship.  * 3:5 Lm 3:19

6 He has made me dwell in darkness

like those who have been dead for ages.  * 3:6 Jb 10:20–22; Ps 88:6; 143:3

ג Gimel

7 He has walled me in so I cannot get out;  * 3:7 Jb 19:8

he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I cry out and plead for help,

he blocks out my prayer.  * 3:8 Jb 30:20; Ps 22:2; Is 59:2; Lm 3:44

9 He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone;  * 3:9 Jb 13:27; 23:12; Is 63:17; Hs 2:6

he has made my paths crooked.  * 3:9 Jb 19:8; Ps 23:3; Pr 2:15; 3:6,17; 4:11

ד Daleth

10 He is  * 3:10 Lit is to me a bear waiting in ambush,

a lion in hiding.  * 3:10 Hs 13:7–8

11 He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;

he left me desolate.

12 He strung his bow  * 3:12 Ps 7:12; Lm 2:4

and set me as the target for his arrow.

ה He

13 He pierced my kidneys

with shafts from his quiver.  * 3:13 Jb 16:13; Pr 7:23

14 I am a laughingstock  * 3:14 Jb 12:4; Jr 20:7; Lm 1:7 to all my people,  * 3:14 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss, Syr read all peoples

mocked by their songs  * 3:14 Jb 30:9; Ps 69:12 all day long.

15 He filled me with bitterness,

satiated me with wormwood.  * 3:15 Jr 9:15; 23:15

ו Waw

16 He ground my teeth with gravel  * 3:16 Ps 3:7; 58:6; Pr 20:17

and made me cower  * 3:16 Or and trampled me in the dust.

17 I have been deprived  * 3:17 Syr, Vg; MT reads You deprived my soul of peace;  * 3:17 Ps 88:15; Lm 3:31

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18 Then I thought, "My future  * 3:18 Or splendor is lost,

as well as my hope from the  Lord."

ז Zayin

19 Remember  * 3:19 Or I remember my affliction and my homelessness,  * 3:19 Is 58:7; Lm 1:7

the wormwood and the poison.  * 3:19 Dt 29:18; Jr 9:15; 23:15

20 I continually remember them

and have become depressed.  * 3:20 Alt Hb tradition reads and you cause me to collapse,* 3:20 Ps 42:5–6,11; 43:5; 44:25

21 Yet I call this to mind,

and therefore I have hope:  * 3:21 Jb 13:15; Ps 33:22; 71:14; 130:5; Mc 7:7

ח Cheth

22 Because of the Lord’s faithful love  * 3:22 Ps 89:1; 103:17; Is 63:7

we do not perish,  * 3:22 One Hb mss, Syr, Tg read The Lord’s faithful love, indeed, does not perish

for his mercies never end.

23 They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness!  * 3:23 Ps 36:5; 89:1–8; 100:5

24 I say, "The Lord is my portion,  * 3:24 Nm 18:20; Ps 73:26; 142:5; Jr 10:16

therefore I will put my hope in him."

ט Teth

25 The Lord is good to those who wait  * 3:25 Ps 25:3; Is 40:31; 49:23 for him,

to the person who seeks him.

26 It is good to wait quietly  * 3:26 Ps 37:7; 130:5,7; 1Th 5:10; 2Tm 4:8; 2Pt 3:14

for salvation from the  Lord.  * 3:26 Ps 37:39; 119:81; Is 46:13

27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke  * 3:27 Jr 27:11; Lm 1:14

while he is still young.

י Yod

28 Let him sit alone and be silent,  * 3:28 Jr 15:17

for God has disciplined  * 3:28 Lit has laid a burden on  him.

29 Let him put his mouth in the dust  * 3:29 Nm 22:31; Jos 7:6; 1Sm 25:23  —

perhaps there is still hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek

to the one who would strike him;  * 3:30 Is 50:6; Mt 5:39; Lk 6:29

let him be filled with disgrace.

כ Kaph

31 For the Lord

will not reject us forever.

32 Even if he causes suffering,

he will show compassion

according to the abundance of his faithful love.  * 3:32 Ps 106:43–45; Ac 14:22; 2Co 4:17; Heb 12:6

33 For he does not enjoy bringing affliction  * 3:33 Heb 12:10–11

or suffering on mankind.

ל Lamed

34 Crushing all the prisoners of the land  * 3:34 Or earth

beneath one’s feet,

35 denying justice to a man  * 3:35 Ex 23:6; Dt 16:19; 24:17; Mal 3:5

in the presence of the Most High,

36 or subverting a person in his lawsuit  * 3:36 Ex 23:2–3  —

the Lord does not approve of these things.

מ Mem

37 Who is there who speaks and it happens,

unless the Lord has ordained it?  * 3:37 Ps 33:9–11

38 Do not both adversity and good

come from the mouth of the Most High?  * 3:38 Gn 50:20; 1Sm 16:14; Jb 2:10; Ps 78:49; Is 45:7; Jr 1:14; 32:42; Am 3:6

39 Why should any living person complain,

any man, because of the punishment for his sins?

נ Nun

40 Let’s examine and probe our ways,

and turn back to the  Lord.  * 3:40 Ps 119:5; 139:23–24

41 Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands  * 3:41 Ps 25:1

to God in heaven:

42 "We have sinned and rebelled;

you have not forgiven.  * 3:42 Dt 29:20; 2Kg 24:4; Jr 5:7

ס Samek

43 "You have covered yourself in anger and pursued us;

you have killed without compassion.  * 3:43 Lm 2:2,17,21; Ezk 7:8–9; 8:18

44 You have covered yourself with a cloud

so that no prayer can get through.  * 3:44 Lm 3:8

45 You have made us disgusting filth

among the peoples.  * 3:45 1Co 4:13

פ Pe

46 "All our enemies

open their mouths against us.  * 3:46 Lm 2:16

47 We have experienced panic and pitfall,  * 3:47 Is 24:17; Jr 48:43

devastation and destruction."

48 My eyes flow with streams of tears

because of the destruction of my dear people.

ע Ayin

49 My eyes overflow unceasingly,

without end,  * 3:48–49 Jr 9:1,18; Lm 1:16; 2:11

50 until the Lord looks down

from heaven and sees.  * 3:50 Ps 14:2; 102:19

51 My eyes bring me grief

because of the fate of all the women in my city.

צ Tsade

52 For no reason, my enemies  * 3:52 Or Those who were my enemies for no reason

hunted me like a bird.  * 3:52 Ps 35:7

53 They smothered my life in  * 3:53 Or They ended my life in; Hb obscure  a pit  * 3:53 Gn 37:20–29; Jr 38:6–13

and threw stones on me.

54 Water flooded over my head,  * 3:54 Ps 42:7; 69:1–2; Jnh 2:3,5

and I thought, "I’m going to die! "  * 3:54 Ezk 37:11

ק Qoph

55 I called on your name,  Lord,

from the depths of the pit.

56 You heard my plea:

Do not ignore my cry for relief.

57 You came near whenever I called you;

you said, "Do not be afraid."

ר Resh

58 You championed my cause, Lord;  * 3:58 Ps 43:1; Pr 23:11; Jr 50:34

you redeemed my life.  * 3:58 Ps 103:4; 119:154

59 Lord, you saw the wrong done to me;

judge my case.

60 You saw all their vengefulness,

all their plots against me.  * 3:60 Jr 11:19

ׂש Sin / שׁ Shin

61 Lord, you heard their insults,  * 3:61 Lm 5:1

all their plots against me.

62 The slander  * 3:62 Lit lips and murmuring of my opponents

attack me all day long.

63 When they sit and when they rise, look,

I am mocked by their songs.  * 3:63 Jb 30:9; Ps 69:12; Lm 3:14

ת Taw

64 You will pay them back what they deserve,  Lord,

according to the work of their hands.  * 3:64 Ps 28:4; Rm 2:6; Rv 20:12–13

65 You will give them a heart filled with anguish.  * 3:65 Or them an obstinate heart; Hb obscure,* 3:65 Is 6:10

May your curse be on them!

66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them

under your heavens.  * 3:66 Lit under the Lord’s heavens,* 3:66 Ps 8:3