Lamentações 3

The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

2 He has led me and made me walk

In darkness and not in light.

3 Surely He has turned His hand against me

Time and time again throughout the day.

4 He has aged *Job 16:8my flesh and my skin,

And *Ps. 51:8; Is. 38:13broken my bones.

5 He has besieged me

And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.

6 *(Ps. 88:5, 6; 143:3)He has set me in dark places

Like the dead of long ago.

7 *Job 3:23; 19:8; Hos. 2:6He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;

He has made my chain heavy.

8 Even *Job 30:20; Ps. 22:2when I cry and shout,

He shuts out my prayer.

9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;

He has made my paths crooked.

10 *Is. 38:13He hasbeen to me a bear lying in wait,

Like a lion in ambush.

11 He has turned aside my ways and *Job 16:12, 13; Jer. 15:3; Hos. 6:1torn me in pieces;

He has made me desolate.

12 He has bent His bow

And *Job 7:20; 16:12; Ps. 38:2set me up as a target for the arrow.

13 He has caused *Job 6:4the arrows of His quiver

To pierce my loins.

14 I have become the *Ps. 22:6, 7; 123:4; Jer. 20:7ridicule of all my people—

*Job 30:9; Ps. 69:12; Lam. 3:63Their taunting song all the day.

15 *Jer. 9:15He has filled me with bitterness,

He has made me drink wormwood.

16 He has also broken my teeth *(Prov. 20:17)with gravel,

And covered me with ashes.

17 You have moved my soul far from peace;

I have forgotten prosperity.

18 *Ps. 31:22And I said, "My strength and my hope

Have perished from the Lord."

19 Remember my affliction and roaming,

*Jer. 9:15; Lam. 3:5, 15The wormwood and the gall.

20 My soul still remembers

And sinks within me.

21 This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have *Ps. 130:7hope.

22 *(Mal. 3:6)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions *Ps. 78:38; (Jer. 3:12; 30:11)fail not.

23 Theyare new *Is. 33:2; Zeph. 3:5every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 "The Lordis my *Ps. 16:5; 73:26; 119:57; Jer. 10:16portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I *Jer. 17:17; Mic. 7:7hope in Him!"

25 The Lordis good to those who *Ps. 130:6; Is. 30:18wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

26 Itis good that one should *(Rom. 4:16–18)hope *Ex. 14:13; Ps. 37:7; Is. 7:4and wait quietly

For the salvation of the Lord.

27 *Ps. 94:12Itis good for a man to bear

The yoke in his youth.

28 *Jer. 15:17Let him sit alone and keep silent,

Because God has laid it on him;

29 *Job 42:6Let him put his mouth in the dust—

There may yet be hope.

30 *Job 16:10; Is. 50:6; (Matt. 5:39; 26:67); Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,

And be full of reproach.

31 *Ps. 77:7; 94:14; (Is. 54:7–10)For the Lord will not cast off forever.

32 Though He causes grief,

Yet He will show compassion

According to the multitude of His mercies.

33 For *(Ps. 119:67, 71, 75; Is. 28:21; Ezek. 33:11; Heb. 12:10)He does not afflict willingly,

Nor grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under one’s feet

All the prisoners of the earth,

35 To turn aside the justice due a man

Before the face of the Most High,

36 Or subvert a man in his cause—

*(Jer. 22:3; Hab. 1:13)The Lord does not approve.

37 Who is he *(Ps. 33:9–11)who speaks and it comes to pass,

When the Lord has not commanded it?

38 Isit not from the mouth of the Most High

That *Job 2:10; (Is. 45:7); Jer. 32:42; Amos 3:6; (James 3:10, 11)woe and well-being proceed?

39 *Prov. 19:3Why should a living man complain,

*Jer. 30:15; Mic. 7:9; (Heb. 12:5, 6)A man for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us search out and examine our ways,

And turn back to the Lord;

41 *Ps. 86:4Let us lift our hearts and hands

To God in heaven.

42 *Neh. 9:26; Jer. 14:20; Dan. 9:5We have transgressed and rebelled;

You have not pardoned.

43 You have covered Yourself with anger

And pursued us;

You have slain and not pitied.

44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,

That prayer should not pass through.

45 You have made us an *1 Cor. 4:13offscouring and refuse

In the midst of the peoples.

46 *Job 30:9, 10; Ps. 22:6–8; Lam. 2:16All our enemies

Have opened their mouths against us.

47 *Is. 24:17, 18; Jer. 48:43, 44Fear and a snare have come upon us,

*Is. 51:19Desolation and destruction.

48 *Jer. 4:19; 14:17; Lam. 2:11My eyes overflow with rivers of water

For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 *Ps. 77:2; Jer. 14:17My eyes flow and do not cease,

Without interruption,

50 Till the Lord from heaven

*Ps. 80:14; Is. 63:15; Lam. 5:1Looks down and sees.

51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul

Because of all the daughters of my city.

52 My enemies *Ps. 35:7, 19without cause

Hunted me down like a bird.

53 They silenced my life *Jer. 37:16in the pit

And *Dan. 6:17threw stones at me.

54 *Ps. 69:2; Jon. 2:3–5The waters flowed over my head;

*Is. 38:10I said, "I am cut off!"

55 *Ps. 130:1; Jon. 2:2I called on Your name, O Lord,

From the lowest *Jer. 38:6–13pit.

56 *Ps. 3:4You have heard my voice:

"Do not hide Your ear

From my sighing, from my cry for help."

57 You *James 4:8drew near on the day I called on You,

And said, *Is. 41:10, 14; Dan. 10:12"Do not fear!"

58 O Lord, You have *Ps. 35:1; Jer. 51:36pleaded the case for my soul;

*Ps. 71:23You have redeemed my life.

59 O Lord, You have seen how I am wronged;

*Ps. 9:4Judge my case.

60 You have seen all their vengeance,

All their *Jer. 11:19schemes against me.

61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,

All their schemes against me,

62 The lips of my enemies

And their whispering against me all the day.

63 Look at their *Ps. 139:2sitting down and their rising up;

I am their taunting song.

64 *Ps. 28:4; Jer. 11:20; 2 Tim. 4:14Repay them, O Lord,

According to the work of their hands.

65 Give them a veiled heart;

Your curse be upon them!

66 In Your anger,

Pursue and destroy them

*Deut. 25:19; Jer. 10:11From under the heavens of the *Ps. 8:3Lord.