Lam3:1 The Prophet's Anguish and HopeHope and Relief Through God's Mercy I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
Lam3:2 He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
Lam3:3 Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
Lam3:4 He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
Lam3:5 He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
Lam3:6 He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
Lam3:7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
Lam3:8 Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
Lam3:9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
Lam3:10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
Lam3:11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
Lam3:12 He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
Lam3:13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.
Lam3:14 I have become the ridicule of all my people-- Their taunting song all the day.
Lam3:15 He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
Lam3:16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
Lam3:17 You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
Lam3:18 And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD."
Lam3:19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
Lam3:20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
Lam3:21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
Lam3:22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
Lam3:23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Lam3:24 The LORD is my portion, says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
Lam3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
Lam3:26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.
Lam3:27 It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
Lam3:28 Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God 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 one who strikes him, And be full of reproach.
Lam3:31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
Lam3:32 Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies.
Lam3:33 For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
Lam3:34 To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth,
Lam3:35 To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High,
Lam3:36 Or subvert a man in his cause-- The Lord does not approve.
Lam3:37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it?
Lam3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed?
Lam3:39 Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?
Lam3:40 Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD;
Lam3:41 Let us lift our hearts and hands To 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 not pitied.
Lam3:44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through.
Lam3:45 You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.
Lam3:46 All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us.
Lam3:47 Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction.
Lam3:48 My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Lam3:49 My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption,
Lam3:50 Till the LORD from heaven Looks down and sees.
Lam3:51 My eyes bring suffering 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 silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me.
Lam3:54 The waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!"
Lam3:55 I called on Your name, O LORD, From the lowest pit.
Lam3:56 You have heard my voice: "Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help."
Lam3:57 You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, "Do not fear!"
Lam3:58 O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life.
Lam3:59 O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; 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 enemies And their whispering against me all the day.
Lam3:63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song.
Lam3:64 Repay them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands.
Lam3:65 Give them a veiled heart; Your curse be upon them!
Lam3:66 In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD.