Lamentations 3:1-33

New Living Translation

Hope in the Lord’s Faithfulness

3 I am the one who has seen the afflictions
    that come from the rod of the Lord’s anger.
²He has led me into darkness,
    shutting out all light.
³He has turned his hand against me
    again and again, all day long.

⁴He has made my skin and flesh grow old.
    He has broken my bones.
⁵He has besieged and surrounded me
    with anguish and distress.
⁶He has buried me in a dark place,
    like those long dead.

⁷He has walled me in, and I cannot escape.
    He has bound me in heavy chains.
⁸And though I cry and shout,
    he has shut out my prayers.
⁹He has blocked my way with a high stone wall;
    he has made my road crooked.

¹⁰He has hidden like a bear or a lion,
    waiting to attack me.
¹¹He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces,
    leaving me helpless and devastated.
¹²He has drawn his bow
    and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³He shot his arrows
    deep into my heart.
¹⁴My own people laugh at me.
    All day long they sing their mocking songs.
¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness
    and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.

¹⁶He has made me chew on gravel.
    He has rolled me in the dust.
¹⁷Peace has been stripped away,
    and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
¹⁸I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
    Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”

¹⁹The thought of my suffering and homelessness
    is bitter beyond words.^[a]
²⁰I will never forget this awful time,
    as I grieve over my loss.
²¹Yet I still dare to hope
    when I remember this:

²²The faithful love of the Lord never ends!^[b]
    His mercies never cease.
²³Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
²⁴I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
    to those who search for him.
²⁶So it is good to wait quietly
    for salvation from the Lord.
²⁷And it is good for people to submit at an early age
    to the yoke of his discipline:

²⁸Let them sit alone in silence
    beneath the Lord’s demands.
²⁹Let them lie face down in the dust,
    for there may be hope at last.
³⁰Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
    and accept the insults of their enemies.

³¹For no one is abandoned
    by the Lord forever.
³²Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
³³For he does not enjoy hurting people
    or causing them sorrow.