Lamentations 3:39-4:5

English Standard Version

⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways,
    ^(B)and return to the Lord!
^41 (C)Let us lift up our hearts and hands
    to God in heaven:
^42 (D)“We have transgressed and ^(E)rebelled,
    and you have not forgiven.

⁴³ “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
    ^(F)killing without pity;
^44 (G)you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
    so that no prayer can pass through.
^45 (H)You have made us scum and garbage
    among the peoples.

^46 (I)“All our enemies
    open their mouths against us;
^47 (J)panic and pitfall have come upon us,
    devastation and ^(K)destruction;
^48 (L)my eyes flow with rivers of tears
    because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^49 (M)“My eyes will flow without ceasing,
    without respite,
^50 (N)until the Lord from heaven
    looks down and sees;
⁵¹ my eyes cause me grief
    at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

^52 (O)“I have been hunted ^(P)like a bird
    by those who were my enemies ^(Q)without cause;
^53 (R)they flung me alive into the pit
    ^(S)and cast stones on me;
^54 (T)water closed over my head;
    I said, ^(U)‘I am lost.’

^55 (V)“I called on your name, O Lord,
    from the depths of the pit;
^56 (W)you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
    your ear to my cry for help!’
^57 (X)You came near when I called on you;
    you said, ^(Y)‘Do not fear!’

⁵⁸ “You have ^(Z)taken up my cause, ^(AA)O Lord;
    you have ^(AB)redeemed my life.
⁵⁹ You have seen the wrong done to me, ^(AC)O Lord;
    judge my cause.
⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance,
    all ^(AD)their plots against me.

^61 (AE)“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
    all ^(AF)their plots against me.
⁶² The lips and thoughts ^(AG)of my assailants
    are against me all the day long.
^63 (AH)Behold their sitting and their rising;
    ^(AI)I am the object of their taunts.

^64 (AJ)“You will repay them,^[a] O Lord,
    ^(AK)according to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵ You will give them^[b] dullness of heart;
    your curse will be^[c] on them.
⁶⁶ You will pursue them^[d] in anger and ^(AL)destroy them
    from under ^(AM)your heavens, O Lord.”^[e]

² The precious sons of Zion,
    worth their weight in ^(AP)fine gold,
how they are regarded as ^(AQ)earthen pots,
    the work of a potter's hands!

³ Even jackals offer the breast;
    they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
    like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the nursing infant ^(AR)sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(AS)the children beg for food,
    but no one gives to them.

⁵ Those who once feasted on delicacies
    perish in the streets;
^(AT)those who were brought up in purple
    embrace ash heaps.