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Lamentations 2-4
New Living Translation
Lamentations 2-4
New Living Translation
God’s Anger at Sin
2 The Lord in his anger
has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem.[a]
The fairest of Israel’s cities lies in the dust,
thrown down from the heights of heaven.
In his day of great anger,
the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.[b]
2 Without mercy the Lord has destroyed
every home in Israel.[c]
In his anger he has broken down
the fortress walls of beautiful Jerusalem.[d]
He has brought them to the ground,
dishonoring the kingdom and its rulers.
3 All the strength of Israel
vanishes beneath his fierce anger.
The Lord has withdrawn his protection
as the enemy attacks.
He consumes the whole land of Israel
like a raging fire.
4 He bends his bow against his people,
as though he were their enemy.
His strength is used against them
to kill their finest youth.
His fury is poured out like fire
on beautiful Jerusalem.[e]
5 Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel
like an enemy.
He has destroyed her palaces
and demolished her fortresses.
He has brought unending sorrow and tears
upon beautiful Jerusalem.
6 He has broken down his Temple
as though it were merely a garden shelter.
The Lord has blotted out all memory
of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.
Kings and priests fall together
before his fierce anger.
7 The Lord has rejected his own altar;
he despises his own sanctuary.
He has given Jerusalem’s palaces
to her enemies.
They shout in the Lord’s Temple
as though it were a day of celebration.
8 The Lord was determined
to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He made careful plans for their destruction,
then did what he had planned.
Therefore, the ramparts and walls
have fallen down before him.
9 Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
no more visions from the Lord.
10 The leaders of beautiful Jerusalem
sit on the ground in silence.
They are clothed in burlap
and throw dust on their heads.
The young women of Jerusalem
hang their heads in shame.
11 I have cried until the tears no longer come;
my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
as I see the desperate plight of my people.
Little children and tiny babies
are fainting and dying in the streets.
12 They cry out to their mothers,
“We need food and drink!”
Their lives ebb away in the streets
like the life of a warrior wounded in battle.
They gasp for life
as they collapse in their mothers’ arms.
13 What can I say about you?
Who has ever seen such sorrow?
O daughter of Jerusalem,
to what can I compare your anguish?
O virgin daughter of Zion,
how can I comfort you?
For your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have said
so many foolish things, false to the core.
They did not save you from exile
by pointing out your sins.
Instead, they painted false pictures,
filling you with false hope.
15 All who pass by jeer at you.
They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem,[f] saying,
“Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World’
and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”
16 All your enemies mock you.
They scoff and snarl and say,
“We have destroyed her at last!
We have long waited for this day,
and it is finally here!”
17 But it is the Lord who did just as he planned.
He has fulfilled the promises of disaster
he made long ago.
He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.
He has caused her enemies to gloat over her
and has given them power over her.
18 Cry aloud[g] before the Lord,
O walls of beautiful Jerusalem!
Let your tears flow like a river
day and night.
Give yourselves no rest;
give your eyes no relief.
19 Rise during the night and cry out.
Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him in prayer,
pleading for your children,
for in every street
they are faint with hunger.
20 “O Lord, think about this!
Should you treat your own people this way?
Should mothers eat their own children,
those they once bounced on their knees?
Should priests and prophets be killed
within the Lord’s Temple?
21 “See them lying in the streets—
young and old,
boys and girls,
killed by the swords of the enemy.
You have killed them in your anger,
slaughtering them without mercy.
22 “You have invited terrors from all around,
as though you were calling them to a day of feasting.
In the day of the Lord’s anger,
no one has escaped or survived.
The enemy has killed all the children
whom I carried and raised.”
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.
2 He has led me into darkness,
shutting out all light.
3 He has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and flesh grow old.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me
with anguish and distress.
6 He has buried me in a dark place,
like those long dead.
7 He has walled me in, and I cannot escape.
He has bound me in heavy chains.
8 And though I cry and shout,
he has shut out my prayers.
9 He has blocked my way with a high stone wall;
he has made my road crooked.
10 He has hidden like a bear or a lion,
waiting to attack me.
11 He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces,
leaving me helpless and devastated.
12 He has drawn his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He shot his arrows
deep into my heart.
14 My own people laugh at me.
All day long they sing their mocking songs.
15 He has filled me with bitterness
and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.
16 He has made me chew on gravel.
He has rolled me in the dust.
17 Peace has been stripped away,
and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.[h]
20 I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
21 Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends![i]
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
26 So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:
28 Let them sit alone in silence
beneath the Lord’s demands.
29 Let them lie face down in the dust,
for there may be hope at last.
30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
and accept the insults of their enemies.
31 For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
33 For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.
34 If people crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the land,
35 if they deprive others of their rights
in defiance of the Most High,
36 if they twist justice in the courts—
doesn’t the Lord see all these things?
37 Who can command things to happen
without the Lord’s permission?
38 Does not the Most High
send both calamity and good?
39 Then why should we, mere humans, complain
when we are punished for our sins?
40 Instead, let us test and examine our ways.
Let us turn back to the Lord.
41 Let us lift our hearts and hands
to God in heaven and say,
42 “We have sinned and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven us.
43 “You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down,
and slaughtered us without mercy.
44 You have hidden yourself in a cloud
so our prayers cannot reach you.
45 You have discarded 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, devastated, and ruined.”
48 Tears stream from my eyes
because of the destruction of my people!
49 My tears flow endlessly;
they will not stop
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 My heart is breaking
over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.
52 My enemies, whom I have never harmed,
hunted me down like a bird.
53 They threw me into a pit
and dropped stones on me.
54 The water rose over my head,
and I cried out, “This is the end!”
55 But I called on your name, Lord,
from deep within the pit.
56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!
Hear my cry for help!”
57 Yes, you came when I called;
you told me, “Do not fear.”
58 Lord, you have come to my defense;
you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong they have done to me, Lord.
Be my judge, and prove me right.
60 You have seen the vengeful plots
my enemies have laid against me.
61 Lord, you have heard the vile names they call me.
You know all about the plans they have made.
62 My enemies whisper and mutter
as they plot against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Whether they sit or stand,
I am the object of their mocking songs.
64 Pay them back, Lord,
for all the evil they have done.
65 Give them hard and stubborn hearts,
and then let your curse fall on them!
66 Chase them down in your anger,
destroying them beneath the Lord’s heavens.
God’s Anger Satisfied
4 How the gold has lost its luster!
Even the finest gold has become dull.
The sacred gemstones
lie scattered in the streets!
2 See how the precious children of Jerusalem,[j]
worth their weight in fine gold,
are now treated like pots of clay
made by a common potter.
3 Even the jackals feed their young,
but not my people Israel.
They ignore their children’s cries,
like ostriches in the desert.
4 The parched tongues of their little ones
stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst.
The children cry for bread,
but no one has any to give them.
5 The people who once ate the richest foods
now beg in the streets for anything they can get.
Those who once wore the finest clothes
now search the garbage dumps for food.
6 The guilt[k] of my people
is greater than that of Sodom,
where utter disaster struck in a moment
and no hand offered help.
7 Our princes once glowed with health—
brighter than snow, whiter than milk.
Their faces were as ruddy as rubies,
their appearance like fine jewels.[l]
8 But now their faces are blacker than soot.
No one recognizes them in the streets.
Their skin sticks to their bones;
it is as dry and hard as wood.
9 Those killed by the sword are better off
than those who die of hunger.
Starving, they waste away
for lack of food from the fields.
10 Tenderhearted women
have cooked their own children.
They have eaten them
to survive the siege.
11 But now the anger of the Lord is satisfied.
His fierce anger has been poured out.
He started a fire in Jerusalem[m]
that burned the city to its foundations.
12 Not a king in all the earth—
no one in all the world—
would have believed that an enemy
could march through the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the sins of her priests,
who defiled the city
by shedding innocent blood.
14 They wandered blindly
through the streets,
so defiled by blood
that no one dared touch them.
15 “Get away!” the people shouted at them.
“You’re defiled! Don’t touch us!”
So they fled to distant lands
and wandered among foreign nations,
but none would let them stay.
16 The Lord himself has scattered them,
and he no longer helps them.
People show no respect for the priests
and no longer honor the leaders.
17 We looked in vain for our allies
to come and save us,
but we were looking to nations
that could not help us.
18 We couldn’t go into the streets
without danger to our lives.
Our end was near; our days were numbered.
We were doomed!
19 Our enemies were swifter than eagles in flight.
If we fled to the mountains, they found us.
If we hid in the wilderness,
they were waiting for us there.
20 Our king—the Lord’s anointed, the very life of our nation—
was caught in their snares.
We had thought that his shadow
would protect us against any nation on earth!
21 Are you rejoicing in the land of Uz,
O people of Edom?
But you, too, must drink from the cup of the Lord’s anger.
You, too, will be stripped naked in your drunkenness.
22 O beautiful Jerusalem,[n] your punishment will end;
you will soon return from exile.
But Edom, your punishment is just beginning;
soon your many sins will be exposed.
Footnotes
- 2:1a Hebrew the daughter of Zion; also in 2:8, 10, 18.
- 2:1b Hebrew his footstool.
- 2:2a Hebrew Jacob; also in 2:3b. See note on 1:17.
- 2:2b Hebrew the daughter of Judah; also in 2:5.
- 2:4 Hebrew on the tent of the daughter of Zion.
- 2:15 Hebrew the daughter of Jerusalem.
- 2:18 Hebrew Their heart cried.
- 3:19 Or is wormwood and gall.
- 3:22 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads of the Lord keeps us from destruction.
- 4:2 Hebrew precious sons of Zion.
- 4:6 Or punishment.
- 4:7 Hebrew like lapis lazuli.
- 4:11 Hebrew in Zion.
- 4:22 Hebrew O daughter of Zion.
Lamentations 2-4
New International Version
Lamentations 2-4
New International Version
2 [a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his anger[b]!(A)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool(B)
in the day of his anger.(C)
2 Without pity(D) the Lord has swallowed(E) up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds(F) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground(G) in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn[c][d](H) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand(I)
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.(J)
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow;(K)
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;(L)
he has poured out his wrath(M) like fire(N)
on the tent(O) of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy;(P)
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.(Q)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(R)
for Daughter Judah.(S)
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed(T) his place of meeting.(U)
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(V)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.(W)
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.(X)
He has given the walls of her palaces(Y)
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.(Z)
8 The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.(AA)
He stretched out a measuring line(AB)
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(AC) and walls lament;
together they wasted away.(AD)
9 Her gates(AE) have sunk into the ground;
their bars(AF) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(AG) among the nations,
the law(AH) is no more,
and her prophets(AI) no longer find
visions(AJ) from the Lord.
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;(AK)
they have sprinkled dust(AL) on their heads(AM)
and put on sackcloth.(AN)
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(AO)
11 My eyes fail from weeping,(AP)
I am in torment within(AQ);
my heart(AR) is poured out(AS) on the ground
because my people are destroyed,(AT)
because children and infants faint(AU)
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”(AV)
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away(AW)
in their mothers’ arms.(AX)
13 What can I say for you?(AY)
With what can I compare you,
Daughter(AZ) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?(BA)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(BB)
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets
were false(BC) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.(BD)
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.(BE)
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you;(BF)
they scoff(BG) and shake their heads(BH)
at Daughter Jerusalem:(BI)
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,(BJ)
the joy of the whole earth?”(BK)
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;(BL)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(BM)
and say, “We have swallowed her up.(BN)
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”(BO)
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled(BP) his word,
which he decreed long ago.(BQ)
He has overthrown you without pity,(BR)
he has let the enemy gloat over you,(BS)
he has exalted the horn[e] of your foes.(BT)
18 The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.(BU)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(BV)
let your tears(BW) flow like a river
day and night;(BX)
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.(BY)
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(BZ) like water
in the presence of the Lord.(CA)
Lift up your hands(CB) to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint(CC) from hunger
at every street corner.
20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(CD)
the children they have cared for?(CE)
Should priest and prophet be killed(CF)
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(CG)
21 “Young and old lie together
in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
have fallen by the sword.(CH)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
you have slaughtered them without pity.(CI)
22 “As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrors(CJ) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped(CK) or survived;
those I cared for and reared(CL)
my enemy has destroyed.”
3 [f]I am the man who has seen affliction(CM)
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(CN)
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness(CO) rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me(CP)
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(CQ)
and has broken my bones.(CR)
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness(CS) and hardship.(CT)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.(CU)
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(CV)
he has weighed me down with chains.(CW)
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,(CX)
he shuts out my prayer.(CY)
9 He has barred(CZ) my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.(DA)
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion(DB) in hiding,(DC)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(DD) me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(DE)
and made me the target(DF) for his arrows.(DG)
13 He pierced(DH) my heart
with arrows from his quiver.(DI)
14 I became the laughingstock(DJ) of all my people;(DK)
they mock me in song(DL) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.(DM)
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(DN)
he has trampled me in the dust.(DO)
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.”(DP)
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness(DQ) and the gall.(DR)
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast(DS) within me.(DT)
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love(DU) we are not consumed,(DV)
for his compassions never fail.(DW)
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(DX)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(DY)
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;(DZ)
26 it is good to wait quietly(EA)
for the salvation of the Lord.(EB)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,(EC)
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(ED)—
there may yet be hope.(EE)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(EF)
and let him be filled with disgrace.(EG)
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.(EH)
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.(EI)
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.(EJ)
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,(EK)
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?(EL)
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?(EM)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?(EN)
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?(EO)
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(EP)
and let us return to the Lord.(EQ)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven,(ER) and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled(ES)
and you have not forgiven.(ET)
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued(EU) us;
you have slain without pity.(EV)
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud(EW)
so that no prayer(EX) can get through.(EY)
45 You have made us scum(EZ) and refuse
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide(FA) against us.(FB)
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,(FC)
ruin and destruction.(FD)”
48 Streams of tears(FE) flow from my eyes(FF)
because my people are destroyed.(FG)
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,(FH)
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.(FI)
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.(FJ)
53 They tried to end my life in a pit(FK)
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,(FL)
and I thought I was about to perish.(FM)
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths(FN) of the pit.(FO)
56 You heard my plea:(FP) “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near(FQ) when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”(FR)
58 You, Lord, took up my case;(FS)
you redeemed my life.(FT)
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.(FU)
Uphold my cause!(FV)
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.(FW)
61 Lord, you have heard their insults,(FX)
all their plots against me—
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.(FY)
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.(FZ)
64 Pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
for what their hands have done.(GA)
65 Put a veil over their hearts,(GB)
and may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue(GC) them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the Lord.
4 [g]How the gold has lost its luster,
the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
at every street corner.(GD)
2 How the precious children of Zion,(GE)
once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
like ostriches in the desert.(GF)
4 Because of thirst(GG) the infant’s tongue
sticks to the roof of its mouth;(GH)
the children beg for bread,
but no one gives it to them.(GI)
5 Those who once ate delicacies
are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple(GJ)
now lie on ash heaps.(GK)
6 The punishment of my people
is greater than that of Sodom,(GL)
which was overthrown in a moment
without a hand turned to help her.
7 Their princes were brighter than snow
and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
their appearance like lapis lazuli.
8 But now they are blacker(GM) than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;(GN)
it has become as dry as a stick.
9 Those killed by the sword are better off
than those who die of famine;(GO)
racked with hunger, they waste away
for lack of food from the field.(GP)
10 With their own hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children,(GQ)
who became their food
when my people were destroyed.
11 The Lord has given full vent to his wrath;(GR)
he has poured out(GS) his fierce anger.(GT)
He kindled a fire(GU) in Zion
that consumed her foundations.(GV)
12 The kings of the earth did not believe,
nor did any of the peoples of the world,
that enemies and foes could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.(GW)
13 But it happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,(GX)
who shed within her
the blood(GY) of the righteous.
14 Now they grope through the streets
as if they were blind.(GZ)
They are so defiled with blood(HA)
that no one dares to touch their garments.
15 “Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them.
“Away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
When they flee and wander(HB) about,
people among the nations say,
“They can stay here no longer.”(HC)
16 The Lord himself has scattered them;
he no longer watches over them.(HD)
The priests are shown no honor,
the elders(HE) no favor.(HF)
17 Moreover, our eyes failed,
looking in vain(HG) for help;(HH)
from our towers we watched
for a nation(HI) that could not save us.
18 People stalked us at every step,
so we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near, our days were numbered,
for our end had come.(HJ)
19 Our pursuers were swifter
than eagles(HK) in the sky;
they chased us(HL) over the mountains
and lay in wait for us in the desert.(HM)
20 The Lord’s anointed,(HN) our very life breath,
was caught in their traps.(HO)
We thought that under his shadow(HP)
we would live among the nations.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt
- Lamentations 2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king
- Lamentations 2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength.
- Lamentations 2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength.
- 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.
- Lamentations 4:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 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.