Lamentations 3
Evangelical Heritage Version
A Ray of Hope in the Midst of Anguish[a]
3 I am the man who has experienced affliction under the rod of his fury.
2 He drove me off and brought me into darkness instead of light.
3 See how he turns against me. He turns his hand against me all day long.
4 He wore out my flesh and my skin. He shattered my bones.
5 He built siege works against me. He surrounded me with bitterness
and hardship.
6 He made me dwell in dark places, like people who died long ago.
7 He walled me in, so I cannot leave. He made my chains heavy.
8 Even when I call and cry out, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my way with a stone wall. He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is about to ambush me like a bear, like a lion lying in wait.
11 He diverted me off my path and tore me to pieces. He made
me desolate.
12 He bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He shot the arrows from his quiver into my heart.[b]
14 I was a laughingstock to all my people, the target of their song
all day long.
15 He has made me eat bitter food and drink my fill of wormwood.
16 He broke my teeth with gravel. He pushed me down into[c] the ashes.
17 You deprived my soul of peace. I have forgotten what well-being[d] is.
18 I said, “My endurance has vanished, along with my hope from
the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and my homeless wandering,
the wormwood and bitterness.
20 My soul always remembers, and it has sunk within me.
21 Nevertheless, I keep this in my heart. This is the reason I have hope:
22 By the mercies of the Lord we are not consumed, for his compassions do not fail.
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 My soul says, “The Lord is my portion. Therefore, I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good to hope quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bears a yoke early in his life.
28 Let him sit alone and be silent, because the Lord has laid this upon him.
29 Let him stick his face in the dust. Perhaps there still is hope.
30 Let him turn his cheek toward the one who strikes him. Let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For the Lord will not push us away forever.
32 Even though he brings grief, he will show compassion on the basis of his great mercy.
33 Certainly it is not what his heart desires when he causes affliction,
when he brings grief to the children of men.
34 To crush all the land’s prisoners under his feet,
35 to deny a man’s right before the face of the Most High,
36 to undermine a man in his legal dispute—
the Lord does not look with favor on these things.[e]
37 Who can speak something and have it happen, unless the Lord commands it?
38 Don’t the bad things and the good both come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 How can any living man complain?
How can someone complain about the consequences of his sins?
40 Let us explore and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
42 We were disobedient and rebelled, so you did not forgive.
43 You covered yourself with anger and pursued us. You killed and did not spare.
44 You covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer passes through.
45 You make us like scraps and garbage among the peoples.
46 All our enemies opened their mouth against us.
47 Panic and the pit were ours, devastation and destruction.
48 Streams of water run down from my eyes,
because of the breaking of the daughter of my people.
49 My eye pours without stopping. It will not cease,
50 until the Lord looks down so that he sees from heaven.
51 What I see makes my soul ache for all the daughters of my city.
52 For no reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 They ended my life in the pit and threw stones at me.
54 Water flowed above my head, and I said, “I am cut off!”
55 I called on your name, Lord, from the deepest pit.
56 You heard my voice: “Do not hide your ear from my cry for relief!”
57 The day I called to you, you came near and said, “Do not fear.”
58 Lord, you pleaded my soul’s case. You redeemed my life.
59 Lord, you saw how I was wronged. Judge my case.
60 You saw all their vengeance, all their plans against me.
61 You heard their scorn, Lord, all their plans against me.
62 You heard the lips of those who rise up against me
and their plots against me all day long.
63 Watch them when they sit down and when they get up.
I am the target of their mocking song.
64 You will pay them back, Lord, according to what their hands have done.
65 You will give them a stubborn[f] heart. Your curse is on them.
66 You will pursue them in anger
and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an alphabetic acrostic. The 66 verses in the chapter form 22 groups, with three verses in each group. All three lines of each group of verses begin with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in alphabetic order. This chapter is the high point of the acrostic structure of Lamentations and includes most of the lines of bright hope contained in the five poems that make up the composition.
- Lamentations 3:13 Literally kidneys
- Lamentations 3:16 Or made me grovel in
- Lamentations 3:17 Or prosperity
- Lamentations 3:36 The Hebrew reads the Lord did not see.
- Lamentations 3:65 The meaning of this word is uncertain.
Lamentations 3
Complete Jewish Bible
3 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his fury,
2 He has led me and made me walk
in darkness and not in light.
3 Against me alone he turns his hand
again and again, all day.
4 He has worn away my skin and flesh,
he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me live in darkness,
like those who are long dead.
7 He has walled me in, so I can’t escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I cry out, pleading for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone,
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He lies in wait for me like a bear,
like a lion in hiding.
11 He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces,
leaving me stunned.
12 He has bent his bow and used me
as a target for his arrows.
13 He has pierced my vital organs
with shafts from his quiver.
14 I’m a laughingstock to all my people,
the butt of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
sated me with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel
and pressed me down into ashes.
17 I have been so deprived of peace,
I have so forgotten what happiness is,
18 that I think, “My strength is gone,
and so is my hope in Adonai.”
19 Remember my utter misery,
the wormwood and the gall.
20 They are always on my mind;
this is why I am so depressed.
21 But in my mind I keep returning to something,
something that gives me hope —
22 that the grace of Adonai is not exhausted,
that his compassion has not ended.
23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning!
How great your faithfulness!
24 “Adonai is all I have,” I say;
“therefore I will put my hope in him.
25 Adonai is good to those waiting for him,
to those who are seeking him out.
26 It is good to wait patiently
for the saving help of Adonai.
27 It is good for a man
to bear the yoke from his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when he has laid it on him.
29 Let him submit absolutely;
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it,
and receive his fill of insults.
31 For rejection by Adonai
does not last forever.
32 He may cause grief, but he will take pity,
in keeping with the greatness of his grace.
33 For he does not arbitrarily torment
or punish human beings.
34 When anyone tramples underfoot
any of the prisoners of the land;
35 when anyone deprives a person of justice,
in defiance of the Most High;
36 when someone is cheated of justice in court —
does Adonai not take note of such things?
37 Who can say something and have it happen
without Adonai’s commanding it?
38 Don’t both bad things and good proceed
from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should anyone alive complain,
even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?
40 Let us examine and test our ways
and return to Adonai.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven and say,
42 “We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled;
you, for your part, have not forgiven.
43 “You have covered us with anger,
pursued and slaughtered us without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick
that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have reduced us
to rubbish and filth among the peoples.
46 “All our adversaries
open their mouths to jeer at us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes stream with rivers of water
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
49 My eyes weep ceaselessly;
there is no respite,
50 until Adonai looks down
and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes make me so upset
at the fate of the women in my city.
52 Those who are my enemies for no reason
hunted me down like a bird.
53 They forced me alive into a pit
and threw stones on me.
54 Water rose above my head;
I thought, “I am finished!”
55 I called on your name, Adonai,
from the bottom of the pit.
56 You heard my voice; don’t close your ear
at my sighs, at my cries.
57 You came near when I called to you;
you said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 Adonai, you defended my cause;
you redeemed my life.
59 Adonai, you see how I have been wronged;
give judgment in my favor!
60 You have seen all their vindictiveness
and all their plots against me.
61 You have heard their taunts, Adonai,
and all their plots against me,
62 the whispered murmurings of my foes
against me all day long.
63 See how, whether they sit or stand,
I am the butt of their taunts.
64 Repay them, Adonai,
as their deeds deserve.
65 Give them hardheartedness
as your curse on them.
66 Pursue them in anger!
Destroy them from under your heavens!
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.