Lamentations 3

¹ I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath. ² He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light. ³ Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long. ⁴ He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones. ⁵ He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. ⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages. ⁷ He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains. ⁸ Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer. ⁹ He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked. ¹⁰ He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush. ¹¹ He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help. ¹² He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow. ¹³ He pierced my kidneys with His arrows. ¹⁴ I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long. ¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood. ¹⁶ He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust. ¹⁷ My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. ¹⁸ So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.” ¹⁹ Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall. ²⁰ Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me. ²¹ Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²² Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! ²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” ²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. ²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young. ²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him. ²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope. ³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach. ³¹ For the Lord will not cast us off forever. ³² Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion. ³³ For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men. ³⁴ To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land, ³⁵ to deny a man justice before the Most High, ³⁶ to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve. ³⁷ Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? ³⁸ Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High? ³⁹ Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins? ⁴⁰ Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD. ⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: ⁴² “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.” ⁴³ You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity. ⁴⁴ You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵ You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. ⁴⁶ All our enemies open their mouths against us. ⁴⁷ Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction. ⁴⁸ Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹ My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief, ⁵⁰ until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. ⁵¹ My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city. ⁵² Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird. ⁵³ They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me. ⁵⁴ The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die. ⁵⁵ I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit. ⁵⁶ You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.” ⁵⁷ You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.” ⁵⁸ You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life. ⁵⁹ You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause! ⁶⁰ You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me. ⁶¹ O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me— ⁶² the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long. ⁶³ When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song. ⁶⁴ You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵ Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them! ⁶⁶ You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.