Lamentations 3

Good News Translation

⁴ He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.
⁵     He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.
⁶     He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.

⁷ He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.
⁸     I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;
⁹     I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.

¹⁰ He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.
¹¹     He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.
¹²     He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³ He shot his arrows deep into my body.
¹⁴     People laugh at me all day long; I am a joke to them all.
¹⁵     Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.

¹⁶ He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on rocks.
¹⁷     I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.
¹⁸     I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the Lord is gone.

¹⁹ The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.
²⁰     I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.
²¹     Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:

²² The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue,
²³     Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.
²⁴     The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.

²⁵ The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him,
²⁶     So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us—
²⁷     And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.

²⁸ When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience;
²⁹     We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope.
³⁰     Though beaten and insulted, we should accept it all.

³¹ The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever.
³²     He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.
³³     He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.

³⁴ The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison;
³⁵     He knows when we are denied the rights he gave us;
³⁶     When justice is perverted in court, he knows.

³⁷ The will of the Lord alone is always carried out.^[a]
38     Good and evil alike take place at his command.
³⁹     Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?^[b]

⁴⁰ Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord.
⁴¹     Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,
⁴²     “We have sinned and rebelled, and you, O Lord, have not forgiven us.

⁴³ “You pursued us and killed us; your mercy was hidden by your anger,
⁴⁴     By a cloud of fury too thick for our prayers to get through.
⁴⁵     You have made us the garbage dump of the world.

⁴⁶ “We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies.
⁴⁷     We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear.
⁴⁸     My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people.

⁴⁹ “My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream
⁵⁰     Until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees us.
⁵¹     My heart is grieved when I see what has happened to the women of the city.

⁵² “I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.
⁵³     They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.
⁵⁴     Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.

⁵⁵ “From the bottom of the pit, O Lord, I cried out to you,
⁵⁶     And when I begged you to listen to my cry, you heard.
⁵⁷     You answered me and told me not to be afraid.

⁵⁸ “You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.
⁵⁹     Judge in my favor; you know the wrongs done against me.
⁶⁰     You know how my enemies hate me and how they plot against me.

⁶¹ “You have heard them insult me, O Lord; you know all their plots.
⁶²     All day long they talk about me and make their plans.
⁶³     From morning till night they make fun of me.

⁶⁴ “Punish them for what they have done, O Lord;
⁶⁵     Curse them and fill them with despair!
⁶⁶     Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!”