Lam3:1 I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath;
Lam3:2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
Lam3:3 against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.
Lam3:4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
Lam3:5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
Lam3:6 he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.
Lam3:7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
Lam3:8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
Lam3:9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
Lam3:10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
Lam3:11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
Lam3:12 he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.
Lam3:13 He shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver;
Lam3:14 I have become the laughingstock of all my people, the object of their taunt-songs all day long.
Lam3:15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
Lam3:16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
Lam3:17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;
Lam3:18 so I say, "Gone is my glory, and all that I had hoped for from the LORD."
Lam3:19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
Lam3:20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
Lam3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
Lam3:22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
Lam3:23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lam3:24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
Lam3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
Lam3:26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Lam3:27 It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth,
Lam3:28 to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it,
Lam3:29 to put one's mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope),
Lam3:30 to give one's cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
Lam3:31 For the Lord will not reject forever.
Lam3:32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
Lam3:33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
Lam3:34 When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot,
Lam3:35 when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High,
Lam3:36 when one's case is subverted-- does the Lord not see it?
Lam3:37 Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it?
Lam3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
Lam3:39 Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins?
Lam3:40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD.
Lam3:41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.
Lam3:42 We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
Lam3:43 You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;
Lam3:44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
Lam3:45 You have made us filth and rubbish among the peoples.
Lam3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us;
Lam3:47 panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
Lam3:48 My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of my people.
Lam3:49 My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,
Lam3:50 until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees.
Lam3:51 My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the young women in my city.
Lam3:52 Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird;
Lam3:53 they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me;
Lam3:54 water closed over my head; I said, "I am lost."
Lam3:55 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;
Lam3:56 you heard my plea, "Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!"
Lam3:57 You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!"
Lam3:58 You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life.
Lam3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.
Lam3:60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
Lam3:61 You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me.
Lam3:62 The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long.
Lam3:63 Whether they sit or rise-- see, I am the object of their taunt-songs.
Lam3:64 Pay them back for their deeds, O LORD, according to the work of their hands!
Lam3:65 Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them!
Lam3:66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the LORD's heavens.