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God’s Steadfast Love Endures

I am the man who has seen affliction
    under the rod of his wrath;
he has driven and brought me
    into darkness without any light;
surely against me he turns his hand
    again and again the whole day long.

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,
    and broken my bones;
he has besieged and enveloped me
    with bitterness and tribulation;
he has made me dwell in darkness
    like the dead of long ago.

He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
    he has put heavy chains on me;
though I call and cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer;
he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
    he has made my paths crooked.

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[a]I am the man who has seen affliction(A)
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(B)
He has driven me away and made me walk
    in darkness(C) rather than light;
indeed, he has turned his hand against me(D)
    again and again, all day long.

He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(E)
    and has broken my bones.(F)
He has besieged me and surrounded me
    with bitterness(G) and hardship.(H)
He has made me dwell in darkness
    like those long dead.(I)

He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(J)
    he has weighed me down with chains.(K)
Even when I call out or cry for help,(L)
    he shuts out my prayer.(M)
He has barred(N) my way with blocks of stone;
    he has made my paths crooked.(O)

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Footnotes

  1. 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.

19 Remember my affliction and my bitterness,[a]
    the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually thinks of it
    and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,[b]
    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
    great is thy faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 3:19 Cn: Heb wandering
  2. Lamentations 3:22 Syr Tg: Heb we are not cut off

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

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

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