Lamentations 3:19-26

Contemporary English Version

¹⁹Just thinking of my troubles
and my lonely wandering
    makes me miserable.
²⁰That's all I ever think about,
    and I am depressed.^[a]
²¹Then I remember something
    that fills me with hope.
²²The Lord's kindness never fails!
If he had not been merciful,
    we would have been destroyed.^[b]
²³The Lord can always be trusted
    to show mercy each morning.
²⁴Deep in my heart I say,
“The Lord is all I need;
    I can depend on him!”

²⁵The Lord is kind to everyone
who trusts and obeys him.
²⁶It is good to wait patiently
for the Lord to save us.

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Footnotes

3.20 I am depressed: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
3.22 destroyed: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 22.

Lamentations 3:19-26

New International Version

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

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