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Lamentations 3
Living Bible
Lamentations 3
Living Bible
3 I am the man who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of God’s wrath. 2 He has brought me into deepest darkness, shutting out all light. 3 He has turned against me. Day and night his hand is heavy on me. 4 He has made me old and has broken my bones.
5 He has built forts against me and surrounded me with anguish and distress. 6 He buried me in dark places, like those long dead. 7 He has walled me in; I cannot escape; he has fastened me with heavy chains. 8 And though I cry and shout, he will not hear my prayers! 9 He has shut me into a place of high, smooth walls;[a] he has filled my path with detours.
10 He lurks like a bear, like a lion, waiting to attack me. 11 He has dragged me into the underbrush and torn me with his claws, leaving me bleeding and desolate.
12 He has bent his bow and aimed it squarely at me, 13 and sent his arrows deep within my heart.
14 My own people laugh at me; all day long they sing their ribald songs.
15 He has filled me with bitterness and given me a cup of deepest sorrows to drink. 16 He has made me eat gravel and broken my teeth; he has rolled me in ashes and dirt. 17 O Lord, all peace and all prosperity have long since gone, for you have taken them away. I have forgotten what enjoyment is. 18 All hope is gone; my strength has turned to water, for the Lord has left me. 19 Oh, remember the bitterness and suffering you have dealt to me! 20 For I can never forget these awful years; always my soul will live in utter shame.
21 Yet there is one ray of hope: 22 his compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. 24 My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. 25 The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. 26 It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a young man to be under discipline, 28 for it causes him to sit apart in silence beneath the Lord’s demands, 29 to lie face downward in the dust; then at last there is hope for him. 30 Let him turn the other cheek to those who strike him and accept their awful insults, 31 for the Lord will not abandon him forever. 32 Although God gives him grief, yet he will show compassion too, according to the greatness of his loving-kindness. 33 For he does not enjoy afflicting men and causing sorrow.
34-36 But you have trampled and crushed beneath your feet the lowly of the world, and deprived men of their God-given rights, and refused them justice. No wonder the Lord has had to deal with you! 37 For who can act against you without the Lord’s permission? 38 It is the Lord who helps one and harms another.
39 Why then should we, mere humans as we are, murmur and complain when punished for our sins? 40 Let us examine ourselves instead, and let us repent and turn again to the Lord. 41 Let us lift our hearts and hands to him in heaven, 42 for we have sinned; we have rebelled against the Lord, and he has not forgotten it.
43 You have engulfed us by your anger, Lord, and slain us without mercy. 44 You have veiled yourself as with a cloud so that our prayers do not reach through. 45 You have made us as refuse and garbage among the nations. 46 All our enemies have spoken out against us. 47 We are filled with fear, for we are trapped and desolate, destroyed.
48-49 My eyes flow day and night with never-ending streams of tears because of the destruction of my people. 50 Oh, that the Lord might look down from heaven and respond to my cry! 51 My heart is breaking over what is happening to the young girls of Jerusalem.
52 My enemies, whom I have never harmed, chased me as though I were a bird. 53 They threw me in a well and capped it with a rock. 54 The water flowed above my head. I thought, This is the end! 55 But I called upon your name, O Lord, from deep within the well, 56 and you heard me! You listened to my pleading; you heard my weeping! 57 Yes, you came at my despairing cry and told me not to fear.
58 O Lord, you are my lawyer! Plead my case! For you have redeemed my life. 59 You have seen the wrong they did to me; be my Judge, to prove me right. 60 You have seen the plots my foes have laid against me. 61 You have heard the vile names they have called me, 62 and all they say about me and their whispered plans. 63 See how they laugh and sing with glee, preparing my doom.
64 O Lord, repay them well for all the evil they have done. 65 Harden their hearts and curse them, Lord. 66 Go after them in fierce pursuit and wipe them off the earth, beneath the heavens of the Lord.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:9 He has shut me into a place of high, smooth walls, literally, “He has walled up my ways with hewn stone.”
Lamentations 3
New International Version
Lamentations 3
New International Version
3 [a]I am the man who has seen affliction(A)
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(B)
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness(C) rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me(D)
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(E)
and has broken my bones.(F)
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness(G) and hardship.(H)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.(I)
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(J)
he has weighed me down with chains.(K)
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,(L)
he shuts out my prayer.(M)
9 He has barred(N) my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.(O)
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion(P) in hiding,(Q)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(R) me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(S)
and made me the target(T) for his arrows.(U)
13 He pierced(V) my heart
with arrows from his quiver.(W)
14 I became the laughingstock(X) of all my people;(Y)
they mock me in song(Z) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.(AA)
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(AB)
he has trampled me in the dust.(AC)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”(AD)
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness(AE) and the gall.(AF)
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast(AG) within me.(AH)
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love(AI) we are not consumed,(AJ)
for his compassions never fail.(AK)
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(AL)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(AM)
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;(AN)
26 it is good to wait quietly(AO)
for the salvation of the Lord.(AP)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,(AQ)
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(AR)—
there may yet be hope.(AS)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(AT)
and let him be filled with disgrace.(AU)
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.(AV)
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.(AW)
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.(AX)
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,(AY)
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?(AZ)
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?(BA)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?(BB)
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?(BC)
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(BD)
and let us return to the Lord.(BE)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven,(BF) and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled(BG)
and you have not forgiven.(BH)
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued(BI) us;
you have slain without pity.(BJ)
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud(BK)
so that no prayer(BL) can get through.(BM)
45 You have made us scum(BN) and refuse
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide(BO) against us.(BP)
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,(BQ)
ruin and destruction.(BR)”
48 Streams of tears(BS) flow from my eyes(BT)
because my people are destroyed.(BU)
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,(BV)
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.(BW)
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.(BX)
53 They tried to end my life in a pit(BY)
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,(BZ)
and I thought I was about to perish.(CA)
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths(CB) of the pit.(CC)
56 You heard my plea:(CD) “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near(CE) when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”(CF)
58 You, Lord, took up my case;(CG)
you redeemed my life.(CH)
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.(CI)
Uphold my cause!(CJ)
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.(CK)
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.
Living Bible (TLB)
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.