Lamentations 3:1-26

New International Version - UK

3 ^[a]I am the man who has seen affliction
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
² He has driven me away and made me walk
    in darkness rather than light;
³ indeed, he has turned his hand against me
    again and again, all day long.

⁴ He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
    and has broken my bones.
⁵ He has besieged me and surrounded me
    with bitterness and hardship.
⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness
    like those long dead.

⁷ He has walled me in so that I cannot escape;
    he has weighed me down with chains.
⁸ Even when I call out or cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer.
⁹ He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
    he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ Like a bear lying in wait,
    like a lion in hiding,
¹¹ he dragged me from the path and mangled me
    and left me without help.
¹² He drew his bow
    and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³ He pierced my heart
    with arrows from his quiver.
¹⁴ I became the laughing-stock of all my people;
    they mock me in song all day long.
¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter herbs
    and given me gall to drink.

¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel;
    he has trampled me in the dust.
¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace;
    I have forgotten what prosperity is.
¹⁸ So I say, ‘My splendour is gone
    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,
    the bitterness and the gall.
²⁰ I well remember them,
    and my soul is downcast within me.
²¹ Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.’

²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.