Lamentations 3
Christian Standard Bible
Hope through God’s Mercy
א Aleph
3 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 He has driven me away and forced me to walk
in darkness instead of light.(A)
3 Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand
against me all day long.
ב Beth
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin;(B)
he has broken my bones.(C)
5 He has laid siege against me,(D)
encircling me with bitterness and hardship.(E)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those who have been dead for ages.(F)
ג Gimel
7 He has walled me in so I cannot get out;(G)
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he blocks out my prayer.(H)
9 He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone;(I)
he has made my paths crooked.(J)
ד Daleth
10 He is[a] a bear waiting in ambush,
a lion in hiding.(K)
11 He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he left me desolate.
12 He strung his bow(L)
and set me as the target for his arrow.
ה He
13 He pierced my kidneys
with shafts from his quiver.(M)
14 I am a laughingstock(N) to all my people,[b]
mocked by their songs(O) all day long.
15 He filled me with bitterness,
satiated me with wormwood.(P)
ו Waw
16 He ground my teeth with gravel(Q)
and made me cower[c] in the dust.
17 I have been deprived[d] of peace;(R)
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 Then I thought, “My future[e] is lost,
as well as my hope from the Lord.”
ז Zayin
19 Remember[f] my affliction and my homelessness,(S)
the wormwood and the poison.(T)
20 I continually remember them
and have become depressed.[g](U)
21 Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:(V)
ח Cheth
22 Because of the Lord’s faithful love(W)
we do not perish,[h]
for his mercies never end.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness!(X)
24 I say, “The Lord is my portion,(Y)
therefore I will put my hope in him.”
ט Teth
25 The Lord is good to those who wait(Z) for him,
to the person who seeks him.
26 It is good to wait quietly(AA)
for salvation from the Lord.(AB)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke(AC)
while he is still young.
י Yod
28 Let him sit alone and be silent,(AD)
for God has disciplined[i] him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust(AE)—
perhaps there is still hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek
to the one who would strike him;(AF)
let him be filled with disgrace.
כ Kaph
31 For the Lord
will not reject us forever.
32 Even if he causes suffering,
he will show compassion
according to the abundance of his faithful love.(AG)
33 For he does not enjoy bringing affliction(AH)
or suffering on mankind.
ל Lamed
34 Crushing all the prisoners of the land[j]
beneath one’s feet,
35 denying justice to a man(AI)
in the presence of the Most High,
36 or subverting a person in his lawsuit(AJ)—
the Lord does not approve of these things.
מ Mem
37 Who is there who speaks and it happens,
unless the Lord has ordained it?(AK)
38 Do not both adversity and good
come from the mouth of the Most High?(AL)
39 Why should any living person complain,
any man, because of the punishment for his sins?
נ Nun
40 Let’s examine and probe our ways,
and turn back to the Lord.(AM)
41 Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands(AN)
to God in heaven:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled;
you have not forgiven.(AO)
ס Samek
43 “You have covered yourself in anger and pursued us;
you have killed without compassion.(AP)
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.(AQ)
45 You have made us disgusting filth
among the peoples.(AR)
פ Pe
46 “All our enemies
open their mouths against us.(AS)
47 We have experienced panic and pitfall,(AT)
devastation and destruction.”
48 My eyes flow with streams of tears
because of the destruction of my dear people.
ע Ayin
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly,
without end,(AU)
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.(AV)
51 My eyes bring me grief
because of the fate of all the women in my city.
צ Tsade
52 For no reason, my enemies[k]
hunted me like a bird.(AW)
53 They smothered my life in[l] a pit(AX)
and threw stones on me.
54 Water flooded over my head,(AY)
and I thought, “I’m going to die!” (AZ)
ק Qoph
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my plea:
Do not ignore my cry for relief.
57 You came near whenever I called you;
you said, “Do not be afraid.”
ר Resh
58 You championed my cause, Lord;(BA)
you redeemed my life.(BB)
59 Lord, you saw the wrong done to me;
judge my case.
60 You saw all their vengefulness,
all their plots against me.(BC)
שׂ Sin / שׁ Shin
61 Lord, you heard their insults,(BD)
all their plots against me.
62 The slander[m] and murmuring of my opponents
attack me all day long.
63 When they sit and when they rise, look,
I am mocked by their songs.(BE)
ת Taw
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
according to the work of their hands.(BF)
65 You will give them a heart filled with anguish.[n](BG)
May your curse be on them!
66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
under your heavens.[o](BH)
Footnotes
- 3:10 Lit is to me
- 3:14 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss, Syr read all peoples
- 3:16 Or and trampled me
- 3:17 Syr, Vg; MT reads You deprived my soul
- 3:18 Or splendor
- 3:19 Or I remember
- 3:20 Alt Hb tradition reads and you cause me to collapse
- 3:22 One Hb mss, Syr, Tg read The Lord’s faithful love, indeed, does not perish
- 3:28 Lit has laid a burden on
- 3:34 Or earth
- 3:52 Or Those who were my enemies for no reason
- 3:53 Or They ended my life in; Hb obscure
- 3:62 Lit lips
- 3:65 Or them an obstinate heart; Hb obscure
- 3:66 Lit under the Lord’s heavens
Lamentations 3
King James Version
3 I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:
19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.
35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission.
50 Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me;
62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64 Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.
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