Lamentations 3:37-5:22

English Standard Version

^37 (A)Who has spoken and it came to pass,
    unless the Lord has commanded it?
^38 (B)Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
    that good and bad come?
^39 (C)Why should a living man complain,
    a man, about the punishment of his sins?

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

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

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

^49 (O)“My eyes will flow without ceasing,
    without respite,
^50 (P)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 (Q)“I have been hunted ^(R)like a bird
    by those who were my enemies ^(S)without cause;
^53 (T)they flung me alive into the pit
    ^(U)and cast stones on me;
^54 (V)water closed over my head;
    I said, ^(W)‘I am lost.’

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

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

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

^64 (AL)“You will repay them,^[a] O Lord,
    ^(AM)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 ^(AN)destroy them
    from under ^(AO)your heavens, O Lord.”^[e]

² The precious sons of Zion,
    worth their weight in ^(AR)fine gold,
how they are regarded as ^(AS)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 ^(AT)sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(AU)the children beg for food,
    but no one gives to them.

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

^6 (AW)For the chastisement^[f] of the daughter of my people has been greater
    than the punishment^[g] of Sodom,
^(AX)which was overthrown in a moment,
    and no hands were wrung for her.^[h]

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
    whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
    the beauty of their form^[i] was like sapphire.^[j]

^8 (AY)Now their face is blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as wood.

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword
    than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
    by lack of the fruits of the field.

^10 (AZ)The hands of ^(BA)compassionate women
    ^(BB)have boiled their own children;
^(BC)they became their food
    during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^11 (BD)The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
    he poured out his hot anger,
and ^(BE)he kindled a fire in Zion
    that consumed its foundations.

^12 (BF)The kings of the earth did not believe,
    nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ This was for ^(BG)the sins of her prophets
    and ^(BH)the iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
    the blood of the righteous.

^14 (BI)They wandered, blind, through the streets;
    they were so defiled with blood
^(BJ)that no one was able to touch
    their garments.

¹⁵ “Away! ^(BK)Unclean!” people cried at them.
    “Away! Away! Do not touch!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
    people said among the nations,
    “They shall stay with us no longer.”

^16 (BL)The Lord himself^[k] has scattered them;
    he will regard them no more;
^(BM)no honor was shown to the priests,
    ^(BN)no favor to the elders.

^17 (BO)Our eyes failed, ever watching
    ^(BP)vainly for help;
in our watching we watched
    for ^(BQ)a nation which could not save.

^18 (BR)They dogged our steps
    so that we could not walk in our streets;
^(BS)our end drew near; our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were ^(BT)swifter
    than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
    they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

^20 (BU)The breath of our nostrils, ^(BV)the Lord's anointed,
    was captured ^(BW)in their pits,
of whom we said, ^(BX)“Under his shadow
    we shall live among the nations.”

^21 (BY)Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
    you who dwell in ^(BZ)the land of Uz;
but to you also ^(CA)the cup shall pass;
    you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

^22 (CB)The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
    he will keep you in exile no longer;^[l]
but ^(CC)your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
    he will uncover your sins.