Lam3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
Lam3:2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
Lam3:3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole 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 dwell 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 to me like a bear lying in wait, like 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 drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver;
Lam3:14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their 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 my expectation from the LORD.'
Lam3:19 Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the 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 thy 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 a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Lam3:28 Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him;
Lam3:29 let him put his mouth in the dust -- there may yet be hope;
Lam3:30 let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
Lam3:31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever,
Lam3:32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
Lam3:33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
Lam3:34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
Lam3:35 to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High,
Lam3:36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.
Lam3:37 Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Lam3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?
Lam3:39 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
Lam3:40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!
Lam3:41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
Lam3:42 'We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven.
Lam3:43 'Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity;
Lam3:44 thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
Lam3:45 Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples.
Lam3:46 'All our enemies rail 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 the daughter 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 maidens of my city.
Lam3:52 'I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;
Lam3:53 they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;
Lam3:54 water closed over my head;I said, I am lost.'
Lam3:55 'I called on thy name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;
Lam3:56 thou didst hear my plea, Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!'
Lam3:57 Thou didst come near when I called on thee;thou didst say, Do not fear!'
Lam3:58 'Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life.
Lam3:59 Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O LORD;judge thou my cause.
Lam3:60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
Lam3:61 'Thou hast heard their taunts, O LORD, all their devices against me.
Lam3:62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.
Lam3:63 Behold their sitting and their rising;I am the burden of their songs.
Lam3:64 'Thou wilt requite them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
Lam3:65 Thou wilt give them dullness of heart;thy curse will be on them.
Lam3:66 Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them from under thy heavens, O LORD.'