Lamentations 3
Legacy Standard Bible
Jeremiah’s Heavy Chain
Aleph
3 I am the man who has (A)seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In (B)darkness and not in light.
3 Surely against me He has (C)turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
Beth
4 He has caused my (D)flesh and my skin to waste away;
He has (E)broken my bones.
5 He has (F)besieged and encompassed me with (G)gall and hardship.
6 (H)Dark places He has made me inhabit,
Like those who have long been dead.
Gimel
7 He has (I)walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my [a](J)chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He (K)shuts out my prayer.
9 He has (L)blocked my ways with cut stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
Daleth
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has turned aside my ways and (M)torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He (N)bent His bow
And (O)set me as a target for the arrow.
He
13 He made the [b]arrows of His (P)quiver
To enter into my [c]inward parts.
14 I have become a (Q)laughingstock to all my people,
Their (R)music of mockery all the day.
15 He has (S)saturated me with bitterness;
He has sated me with wormwood.
Vav
16 He has (T)broken my teeth with (U)gravel;
He has made me cower in the (V)dust.
17 My soul has been rejected (W)from peace;
I have forgotten goodness.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished,
As well as my (X)hopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh.”
The Lord Will Not Reject Forever
Zayin
19 Remember my affliction and my [d]homelessness, the (Y)wormwood and gall.
20 Surely (Z)my soul remembers
And is (AA)bowed down within me.
21 This I will return to my heart;
Therefore I will (AB)wait in hope.
Heth
22 The (AC)lovingkindnesses of Yahweh [e]indeed never cease,
(AD)For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new (AE)every morning;
Great is (AF)Your faithfulness.
24 “Yahweh is my (AG)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I (AH)wait for Him.”
Teth
25 Yahweh is good to those who (AI)hope in Him,
To the soul who (AJ)seeks Him.
26 It is good that he (AK)waits silently
For the salvation of Yahweh.
27 It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth.
Yodh
28 Let him (AL)sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him.
29 Let him [f]put his mouth in the (AM)dust;
Perhaps there is (AN)hope.
30 Let him give his (AO)cheek to the one who strikes him;
Let him be saturated with reproach.
Kaph
31 For the Lord will (AP)not reject forever,
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have (AQ)compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.
33 For He (AR)does not afflict from His heart
Or grieve the sons of men.
Lamedh
34 To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the [g]land,
35 To [h]deprive a man of (AS)justice
In the presence of the Most High,
36 To [i](AT)defraud a man in his legal case—
These things the Lord does not see with approval.
Mem
37 Who is [j]there who speaks and it (AU)happens,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That (AV)both calamities and [k]good go forth?
39 Why should any living [l]person or any man
(AW)Complain because of his sins?
Nun
40 Let us (AX)search out and examine our ways,
And let us return to Yahweh.
41 We (AY)lift up our heart to our hands
Toward God in heaven;
42 We have (AZ)transgressed and rebelled;
You have (BA)not pardoned.
Samekh
43 You have covered Yourself with (BB)anger
And (BC)pursued us;
You have killed and (BD)have not spared.
44 You have (BE)covered Yourself with a cloud
So that (BF)no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us mere (BG)scum and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
Pe
46 All our enemies have (BH)opened their mouths against us.
47 (BI)Panic and pitfall have befallen us,
Devastation and destruction;
48 My [m](BJ)eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Ayin
49 My eyes pour down (BK)unceasingly,
Without stopping,
50 Until Yahweh (BL)looks down
And sees from heaven.
51 My eyes deal severely with my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
Tsadhe
52 My enemies (BM)without cause
Hunted me down (BN)like a bird;
53 They have silenced my life (BO)in the pit
And have [n](BP)placed a stone on me.
54 Waters flowed (BQ)over my head;
I said, “I am cut off!”
Qoph
55 I (BR)called on Your name, O Yahweh,
Out of the lowest pit.
56 You have (BS)heard my voice,
“(BT)Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help.”
57 You (BU)drew near when I called on You;
You said, “(BV)Do not fear!”
Resh
58 O Lord, You (BW)have pleaded my soul’s cause;
You have (BX)redeemed my life.
59 O Yahweh, You have (BY)seen my oppression;
(BZ)Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their (CA)purposes against me.
Sin / Shin
61 You have heard their (CB)reproach, O Yahweh,
All their purposes against me.
62 The (CC)lips of those who rise against me and their whispering
Are against me all day long.
63 Look on their (CD)sitting and their rising;
(CE)I am their mocking song.
Tav
64 You will (CF)recompense them, O Yahweh,
According to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them [o](CG)dullness of heart;
Your curse will be on them.
66 You will (CH)pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the (CI)heavens of Yahweh!
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:7 Lit bronze piece
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit sons
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit kidneys
- Lamentations 3:19 Or bitterness
- Lamentations 3:22 Or that we are not consumed
- Lamentations 3:29 Lit give
- Lamentations 3:34 Or earth
- Lamentations 3:35 Or turn aside a man’s case
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit make crooked
- Lamentations 3:37 Lit this
- Lamentations 3:38 Lit the good
- Lamentations 3:39 Or human being
- Lamentations 3:48 Lit eye brings
- Lamentations 3:53 Or cast stones
- Lamentations 3:65 Or insolence
Lamentations 3
Common English Bible
An individual’s complaint
3 I am someone[a] who saw the suffering caused by God’s[b] angry rod.
2 He drove me away, forced me to walk in darkness, not light.
3 He turned his hand even against me, over and over again, all day long.
4 He wore out my flesh and my skin; he broke my bones.
5 He besieged me, surrounding me with bitterness and weariness.
6 He made me live in dark places like those who’ve been dead a long time.
7 He walled me in so I couldn’t escape; he made my chains heavy.
8 Even though I call out and cry for help, he silences my prayer.
9 He walled in my paths with stonework; he made my routes crooked.
10 He is a bear lurking for me, a lion in hiding.
11 He took me from my path[c] and tore me apart; he made me desolate.
12 He drew back his bow, made me a shooting target for arrows.
13 He shot the arrows of his quiver into my inside parts.
14 I have become a joke to all my people, the object of their song of ridicule all day long.
15 He saturated me with grief, made me choke on bitterness.
16 He crushed my teeth into the gravel; he pressed me down into the ashes.
17 I’ve[d] rejected peace; I’ve forgotten what is good.
18 I thought: My future is gone, as well as my hope from the Lord.
19 The memory of my suffering and homelessness is bitterness and poison.
20 I[e] can’t help but remember and am depressed.
21 I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait.
22 Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended;[f] certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!
23 They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 I think:[g] The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.
25 The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the person[h] who seeks him.
26 It’s good to wait in silence for the Lord’s deliverance.
27 It’s good for a man to carry a yoke in his youth.
28 He should sit alone and be silent when God lays it on him.
29 He should put his mouth in the dirt—perhaps there is hope.
30 He should offer his cheek for a blow; he should be filled with shame.
31 My Lord definitely[i] won’t reject forever.
32 Although he has caused grief, he will show compassion in measure with his covenant loyalty.
33 He definitely doesn’t enjoy affliction,[j] making humans suffer.
34 Now crushing underfoot all the earth’s prisoners,
35 denying someone justice before the Most High,
36 subverting a person’s lawsuit—doesn’t my Lord see all this?
37 Who ever spoke and it happened if my Lord hadn’t commanded the same?
38 From the mouth of the Most High evil things don’t come, but rather good!
39 Why then does any living person complain; why should anyone complain about their sins?
40 We must search and examine our ways; we must return to the Lord.
41 We should lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
42 We are the ones who did wrong; we rebelled. But you, God, have not forgiven.
43 You wrapped yourself up in wrath and hunted us; you killed, showing no compassion.
44 You wrapped yourself up in a cloud; prayers can’t make it through!
45 You made us trash and garbage in front of all other people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Terror and trap have come upon us, catastrophe and collapse!
48 Streams of water pour from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow and don’t stop. There is no relief
50 until the Lord looks down from the heavens and notices.
51 My eyes hurt me[k] because of what’s happened to my city’s daughters.
52 My enemies hunted me down like a bird, relentlessly, for no reason.
53 They caught me alive in a pit and threw stones at me;
54 water flowed over my head. I thought: I’m finished.
55 I call on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit.
56 Hear my voice. Don’t close your ear[l] to my need for relief, to my cry for help.[m]
57 Come near to me on the day I call to you. Say to me, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 My Lord! Plead my desperate case;[n] redeem my life.
59 Lord, look at my mistreatment; judge my cause.
60 Look at all of my enemies’ vengeance, all of their scheming against me.
61 Hear their jeering, Lord, all of their scheming against me,
62 the speech of those who rise up against me, their incessant gossiping about me.
63 Whether sitting or standing, look at how I am the object of their song of ridicule.
64 Pay them back fully, Lord, according to what they have done.
65 Give them a tortured mind—put your curse on them!
66 Angrily hunt them down; wipe them out from under the Lord’s heaven.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:1 Or the man; also in 3:27, 35, 39
- Lamentations 3:1 Or his
- Lamentations 3:11 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 3:17 Or my spirit; also in 3:20, 24, 25, 51, 58
- Lamentations 3:20 Or My spirit can’t help but remember and is depressed
- Lamentations 3:22 Tg, Syr, and other ancient sources; MT we aren’t finished.
- Lamentations 3:24 Or My spirit thinks
- Lamentations 3:25 Or spirit
- Lamentations 3:31 Or Because my Lord won’t reject forever
- Lamentations 3:33 Heb He does not afflict from his heart.
- Lamentations 3:51 Or my spirit
- Lamentations 3:56 Or You didn’t close your ear.
- Lamentations 3:56 Or You have heard my voice.
- Lamentations 3:58 Or my spirit’s case or my spirit’s grievance
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