Lam3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.
Lam3:2 He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
Lam3:3 Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.
Lam3:4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.
Lam3:5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
Lam3:6 In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.
Lam3:7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.
Lam3:8 Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Lam3:9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
Lam3:10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.
Lam3:11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.
Lam3:12 He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.
Lam3:13 He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.
Lam3:14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.
Lam3:15 He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.
Lam3:16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.
Lam3:17 My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.
Lam3:18 So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the Lord."
Lam3:19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
Lam3:20 Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.
Lam3:21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
Lam3:22 The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.
Lam3:23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Lam3:24 "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."
Lam3:25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.
Lam3:26 It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord.
Lam3:27 It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.
Lam3:28 Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him.
Lam3:29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope.
Lam3:30 Let him give his cheek to the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach.
Lam3:31 For the Lord will not reject forever,
Lam3:32 For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.
Lam3:33 For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men.
Lam3:34 To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,
Lam3:35 To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,
Lam3:36 To defraud a man in his lawsuit-- Of these things the Lord does not approve.
Lam3:37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?
Lam3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?
Lam3:39 Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?
Lam3:40 Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the Lord.
Lam3:41 We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;
Lam3:42 We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned.
Lam3:43 You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and have not spared.
Lam3:44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.
Lam3:45 You have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.
Lam3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
Lam3:47 Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;
Lam3:48 My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Lam3:49 My eyes pour down unceasingly, Without stopping,
Lam3:50 Until the Lord looks down And sees from heaven.
Lam3:51 My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.
Lam3:52 My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird;
Lam3:53 They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.
Lam3:54 Waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!"
Lam3:55 I called on Your name, O Lord, Out of the lowest pit.
Lam3:56 You have heard my voice, "Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help."
Lam3:57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, "Do not fear!"
Lam3:58 O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause; You have redeemed my life.
Lam3:59 O Lord, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case.
Lam3:60 You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me.
Lam3:61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord, All their schemes against me.
Lam3:62 The lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long.
Lam3:63 Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.
Lam3:64 You will recompense them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands.
Lam3:65 You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them.
Lam3:66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the Lord!