Lamentations 3

Common English Bible

⁴ He wore out my flesh and my skin; he broke my bones.
⁵ He besieged me, surrounding me with bitterness and weariness.
⁶ He made me live in dark places like those who’ve been dead a long time.

⁷ He walled me in so I couldn’t escape; he made my chains heavy.
⁸ Even though I call out and cry for help, he silences my prayer.
⁹ He walled in my paths with stonework; he made my routes crooked.

¹⁰ He is a bear lurking for me, a lion in hiding.
¹¹ He took me from my path^[c] and tore me apart; he made me desolate.
¹² He drew back his bow, made me a shooting target for arrows.

¹³ He shot the arrows of his quiver into my inside parts.
¹⁴ I have become a joke to all my people, the object of their song of ridicule all day long.
¹⁵ He saturated me with grief, made me choke on bitterness.

¹⁶ He crushed my teeth into the gravel; he pressed me down into the ashes.
¹⁷ I’ve^[d] rejected peace; I’ve forgotten what is good.
¹⁸ I thought: My future is gone, as well as my hope from the Lord.

¹⁹ The memory of my suffering and homelessness is bitterness and poison.
²⁰ I^[e] can’t help but remember and am depressed.
²¹ I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait.

²² Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended;^[f] certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!
²³ They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I think:^[g] The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the person^[h] who seeks him.
²⁶ It’s good to wait in silence for the Lord’s deliverance.
²⁷ It’s good for a man to carry a yoke in his youth.
²⁸ He should sit alone and be silent when God lays it on him.
²⁹ He should put his mouth in the dirt—perhaps there is hope.
³⁰ He should offer his cheek for a blow; he should be filled with shame.

³¹ My Lord definitely^[i] won’t reject forever.
³² Although he has caused grief, he will show compassion in measure with his covenant loyalty.
³³ He definitely doesn’t enjoy affliction,^[j] making humans suffer.

³⁴ Now crushing underfoot all the earth’s prisoners,
³⁵     denying someone justice before the Most High,
³⁶     subverting a person’s lawsuit—doesn’t my Lord see all this?

³⁷ Who ever spoke and it happened if my Lord hadn’t commanded the same?
³⁸ From the mouth of the Most High evil things don’t come, but rather good!
³⁹ Why then does any living person complain; why should anyone complain about their sins?

⁴⁰ We must search and examine our ways; we must return to the Lord.
⁴¹ We should lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
⁴² We are the ones who did wrong; we rebelled. But you, God, have not forgiven.

⁴³ You wrapped yourself up in wrath and hunted us; you killed, showing no compassion.
⁴⁴ You wrapped yourself up in a cloud; prayers can’t make it through!
⁴⁵ You made us trash and garbage in front of all other people.

⁴⁶ All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
⁴⁷ Terror and trap have come upon us, catastrophe and collapse!
⁴⁸ Streams of water pour from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ My eyes flow and don’t stop. There is no relief
⁵⁰     until the Lord looks down from the heavens and notices.
⁵¹ My eyes hurt me^[k] because of what’s happened to my city’s daughters.

⁵² My enemies hunted me down like a bird, relentlessly, for no reason.
⁵³ They caught me alive in a pit and threw stones at me;
⁵⁴     water flowed over my head. I thought: I’m finished.

⁵⁵ I call on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit.
⁵⁶ Hear my voice. Don’t close your ear^[l] to my need for relief, to my cry for help.^[m]
57 Come near to me on the day I call to you. Say to me, “Don’t be afraid.”

⁵⁸ My Lord! Plead my desperate case;^[n] redeem my life.
⁵⁹ Lord, look at my mistreatment; judge my cause.
⁶⁰ Look at all of my enemies’ vengeance, all of their scheming against me.

⁶¹ Hear their jeering, Lord, all of their scheming against me,
⁶²     the speech of those who rise up against me, their incessant gossiping about me.
⁶³ Whether sitting or standing, look at how I am the object of their song of ridicule.
⁶⁴ Pay them back fully, Lord, according to what they have done.
⁶⁵ Give them a tortured mind—put your curse on them!
⁶⁶ Angrily hunt them down; wipe them out from under the Lord’s heaven.