Lamentations 3-5

New King James Version

⁴ He has aged ^(A)my flesh and my skin,
And ^(B)broken my bones.
⁵ He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and ^[a]woe.
^6 (C)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.

^7 (D)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
⁸ Even ^(E)when 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 (F)He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in ^[b]ambush.
¹¹ He has turned aside my ways and ^(G)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
¹² He has bent His bow
And ^(H)set me up as a target for the arrow.

¹³ He has caused ^(I)the ^[c]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my ^[d]loins.
¹⁴ I have become the ^(J)ridicule of all my people—
^(K)Their taunting song all the day.
^15 (L)He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.

¹⁶ He has also broken my teeth ^(M)with gravel,
And ^[e]covered me with ashes.
¹⁷ You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten ^[f]prosperity.
^18 (N)And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and roaming,
^(O)The wormwood and the ^[g]gall.
²⁰ My soul still remembers
And ^[h]sinks within me.
²¹ This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have ^(P)hope.

^22 (Q)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions ^(R)fail not.
²³ They are new ^(S)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my ^(T)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ^(U)hope in Him!”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who ^(V)wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
²⁶ It is good that one should ^(W)hope ^(X)and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
^27 (Y)It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.

^28 (Z)Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
^29 (AA)Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
^30 (AB)Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.

^31 (AC)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 ^(AD)He does not afflict ^[i]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—
^(AE)The Lord does not approve.

³⁷ Who is he ^(AF)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ^(AG)woe and well-being proceed?
^39 (AH)Why should a living man ^[j]complain,
^(AI)A man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
^41 (AJ)Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
^42 (AK)We 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 ^(AL)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.

^46 (AM)All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
^47 (AN)Fear and a snare have come upon us,
^(AO)Desolation and destruction.
^48 (AP)My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^49 (AQ)My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
⁵⁰ Till the Lord from heaven
^(AR)Looks down and sees.
⁵¹ My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵² My enemies ^(AS)without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
⁵³ They ^[k]silenced my life ^(AT)in the pit
And ^(AU)threw ^[l]stones at me.
^54 (AV)The waters flowed over my head;
^(AW)I said, “I am cut off!”

^55 (AX)I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest ^(AY)pit.
^56 (AZ)You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
⁵⁷ You ^(BA)drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, ^(BB)“Do not fear!”

⁵⁸ O Lord, You have ^(BC)pleaded the case for my soul;
^(BD)You have redeemed my life.
⁵⁹ O Lord, You have seen ^[m]how I am wronged;
^(BE)Judge my case.
⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance,
All their ^(BF)schemes 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 ^(BG)sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.

^64 (BH)Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵ Give them ^[n]a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
⁶⁶ In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
^(BI)From under the heavens of the ^(BJ)Lord.

² The precious sons of Zion,
^[p]Valuable as fine gold,
How they are ^[q]regarded ^(BK)as clay pots,
The work of the hands of the potter!

³ Even the jackals present their breasts
To nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is cruel,
^(BL)Like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(BM)The young children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.

⁵ Those who ate delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those who were brought up in scarlet
^(BN)Embrace ash heaps.

⁶ The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the punishment of the ^(BO)sin of Sodom,
Which was ^(BP)overthrown in a moment,
With no hand to help her!

⁷ Her ^[r]Nazirites were ^[s]brighter than snow
And whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Like sapphire in their ^[t]appearance.

⁸ Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets;
^(BQ)Their skin clings to their bones,
It has become as dry as wood.

⁹ Those slain by the sword are better off
Than those who die of hunger;
For these ^(BR)pine away,
Stricken for lack of the fruits of the ^(BS)field.

¹⁰ The hands of the ^(BT)compassionate women
Have ^[u]cooked their ^(BU)own children;
They became ^(BV)food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹ The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
^(BW)He has poured out His fierce anger.
^(BX)He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth,
And all inhabitants of the world,
Would not have believed
That the adversary and the enemy
Could ^(BY)enter the gates of Jerusalem—

^13 (BZ)Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
^(CA)Who shed in her midst
The blood of the just.

¹⁴ They wandered blind in the streets;
^(CB)They have defiled themselves with blood,
^(CC)So that no one would touch their garments.

¹⁵ They cried out to them,
“Go away, ^(CD)unclean!
Go away, go away,
Do not touch us!”
When they fled and wandered,
Those among the nations said,
“They shall no longer dwell here.”

¹⁶ The ^[v]face of the Lord scattered them;
He no longer regards them.
^(CE)The people do not respect the priests
Nor show favor to the elders.

¹⁷ Still ^(CF)our eyes failed us,
Watching vainly for our help;
In our watching we watched
For a nation that could not save us.

^18 (CG)They ^[w]tracked our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets.
^(CH)Our end was near;
Our days were over,
For our end had come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were ^(CI)swifter
Than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains
And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The ^(CJ)breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,
^(CK)Was caught in their pits,
Of whom we said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^(CL)Edom,
You who dwell in the land of Uz!
^(CM)The cup shall also pass over to you
And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.

^22 (CN)The punishment of your iniquity ^[x]is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion;
He will no longer send you into captivity.
^(CO)He will punish your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom;
He will uncover your sins!

⁴ We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
^5 (CT)They pursue at our ^[y]heels;
We labor and have no rest.
^6 (CU)We have given our hand ^(CV)to the Egyptians
And the ^(CW)Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

^7 (CX)Our fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
⁸ Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
⁹ We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰ Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
¹¹ They ^(CY)ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
¹² Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
¹³ Young men ^(CZ)ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.
¹⁴ The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their ^(DA)music.

¹⁵ The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into ^(DB)mourning.
^16 (DC)The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ Because of this our heart is faint;
^(DD)Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
¹⁸ Because of Mount Zion which is ^(DE)desolate,
With foxes walking about on it.

¹⁹ You, O Lord, ^(DF)remain forever;
^(DG)Your throne from generation to generation.
^20 (DH)Why do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?
^21 (DI)Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be ^[z]restored;
Renew our days as of old,
²² Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!