Lamentations 3
Revised Geneva Translation
3 I am the man who has seen affliction in the rod of His indignation.
2 He has led me, and brought me into darkness, but not to light.
3 Surely, He has turned against me; His Hand overturns me all day long.
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to grow old. He has broken my bones.
5 He has built against me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has set me in dark places, as those who are dead forever.
7 He has put a hedge around me, so that I cannot get out. He has made my chains heavy.
8 Also, when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my way with hewn stone, turned away my paths.
10 He was, to me, like a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
11 He has blocked my way and torn me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow and made me a mark for the arrow.
13 He caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my core.
14 I was a laughingstock to all my people, their song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, made me drunk with wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel and covered me with ashes.
17 Thus, my soul was far away from peace. I forgot what is good.
18 And I said, “My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD.”
19 Remember my affliction and my mourning, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20 My soul has remembered them and is humbled in me.
21 I consider this in my heart; therefore, I have hope.
22 It is because of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed. His compassions do not fail.
23 They are renewed every morning. Great is Your faithfulness!
24 “The LORD is my portion;” says my soul, “therefore, I will hope in Him!”
25 The LORD is good to those who trust in Him, to the soul that seeks Him.
26 It is good to wait, watchfully yet silently, for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bears the yoke in his youth.
28 He sits alone and keeps silent because he has borne it upon him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust. Perhaps there may be hope.
30 He gives his cheek to him who strikes him. He is fully filled with reproach.
31 For the LORD will not forsake forever.
32 But though He sends affliction, He will still have compassion, according to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the children of men.
34 To stamp under His feet all the prisoners of the Earth,
35 to divert the rights of a man before the Face of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his cause, the LORD does not approve.
37 Who is he, then, who speaks and it happens, if the LORD has not Commanded it?
38 Does not both misery and prosperity proceed out of the Mouth of the Most High?
39 Why, then, does a man, living and mighty, complain about the penalty for his sins?
40 Let us search and test our ways and turn back to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 We have sinned and have rebelled. You have not spared.
43 You have covered us with wrath, and persecuted us. You have killed, not spared.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud, so that prayer would not pass through.
45 You have made us offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes run down with rivers of water for the destruction of the Daughter of my people.
49 My eyes run down without pause, and will not cease
50 until the LORD looks down and beholds from Heaven.
51 My eyes break my heart, because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause.
53 They have shut up my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over my head. I thought, “I am destroyed.”
55 I called upon Your Name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 You have heard my voice. Do not hide Your Ear from my sigh, from my cry.
57 You drew near on the day that I called upon You. You said: “Do not fear.”
58 O LORD, You have maintained the cause of my soul, have redeemed my life.
59 O LORD, You have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me:
61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me,
62 the lips of those who rose against me, and their continual whispering against me.
63 Behold their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64 Give them recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart. Your curse be upon them!
66 Persecute with wrath and destroy them from under the heavens, O LORD.
Lamentations 3
New King James Version
The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope
3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged (A)my flesh and my skin,
And (B)broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and [a]woe.
6 (C)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.
7 (D)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even (E)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 (F)He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in [b]ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and (G)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow
And (H)set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused (I)the [c]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my [d]loins.
14 I have become the (J)ridicule of all my people—
(K)Their taunting song all the day.
15 (L)He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth (M)with gravel,
And [e]covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten [f]prosperity.
18 (N)And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and roaming,
(O)The wormwood and the [g]gall.
20 My soul still remembers
And [h]sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have (P)hope.
22 (Q)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions (R)fail not.
23 They are new (S)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my (T)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I (U)hope in Him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who (V)wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should (W)hope (X)and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 (Y)It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 (Z)Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
29 (AA)Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
30 (AB)Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.
31 (AC)For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For (AD)He does not afflict [i]willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
(AE)The Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he (AF)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That (AG)woe and well-being proceed?
39 (AH)Why should a living man [j]complain,
(AI)A man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
41 (AJ)Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
42 (AK)We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us an (AL)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
46 (AM)All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47 (AN)Fear and a snare have come upon us,
(AO)Desolation and destruction.
48 (AP)My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 (AQ)My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
50 Till the Lord from heaven
(AR)Looks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies (AS)without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
53 They [k]silenced my life (AT)in the pit
And (AU)threw [l]stones at me.
54 (AV)The waters flowed over my head;
(AW)I said, “I am cut off!”
55 (AX)I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest (AY)pit.
56 (AZ)You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
57 You (BA)drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, (BB)“Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, You have (BC)pleaded the case for my soul;
(BD)You have redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, You have seen [m]how I am wronged;
(BE)Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their (BF)schemes against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
62 The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
63 Look at their (BG)sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.
64 (BH)Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
65 Give them [n]a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
66 In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
(BI)From under the heavens of the (BJ)Lord.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:5 hardship or weariness
- Lamentations 3:10 Lit. secret places
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit. sons of
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit. kidneys
- Lamentations 3:16 Lit. bent me down in
- Lamentations 3:17 Lit. good
- Lamentations 3:19 bitterness
- Lamentations 3:20 Lit. bowed down
- Lamentations 3:33 Lit. from His heart
- Lamentations 3:39 Or murmur
- Lamentations 3:53 LXX put to death
- Lamentations 3:53 Lit. a stone on
- Lamentations 3:59 Lit. my wrong
- Lamentations 3:65 A Jewish tradition sorrow of
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
