Lamentations 3:19-66

Legacy Standard Bible

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my ^[a]homelessness, the ^(A)wormwood and gall.
²⁰ Surely ^(B)my soul remembers
And is ^(C)bowed down within me.
²¹ This I will return to my heart;
Therefore I will ^(D)wait in hope.

²² The ^(E)lovingkindnesses of Yahweh ^[b]indeed never cease,
^(F)For His compassions never fail.
²³ They are new ^(G)every morning;
Great is ^(H)Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “Yahweh is my ^(I)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ^(J)wait for Him.”

²⁵ Yahweh is good to those who ^(K)hope in Him,
To the soul who ^(L)seeks Him.
²⁶ It is good that he ^(M)waits silently
For the salvation of Yahweh.
²⁷ It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth.

²⁸ Let him ^(N)sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him.
²⁹ Let him ^[c]put his mouth in the ^(O)dust;
Perhaps there is ^(P)hope.
³⁰ Let him give his ^(Q)cheek to the one who strikes him;
Let him be saturated with reproach.

³¹ For the Lord will ^(R)not reject forever,
³² For if He causes grief,
Then He will have ^(S)compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.
³³ For He ^(T)does not afflict from His heart
Or grieve the sons of men.

³⁴ To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the ^[d]land,
³⁵ To ^[e]deprive a man of ^(U)justice
In the presence of the Most High,
³⁶ To ^[f](V)defraud a man in his legal case—
These things the Lord does not see with approval.

³⁷ Who is ^[g]there who speaks and it ^(W)happens,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ^(X)both calamities and ^[h]good go forth?
³⁹ Why should any living ^[i]person or any man
^(Y)Complain because of his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us ^(Z)search out and examine our ways,
And let us return to Yahweh.
⁴¹ We ^(AA)lift up our heart to our hands
Toward God in heaven;
⁴² We have ^(AB)transgressed and rebelled;
You have ^(AC)not pardoned.

⁴³ You have covered Yourself with ^(AD)anger
And ^(AE)pursued us;
You have killed and ^(AF)have not spared.
⁴⁴ You have ^(AG)covered Yourself with a cloud
So that ^(AH)no prayer can pass through.
⁴⁵ You have made us mere ^(AI)scum and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶ All our enemies have ^(AJ)opened their mouths against us.
^47 (AK)Panic and pitfall have befallen us,
Devastation and destruction;
⁴⁸ My ^[j](AL)eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ My eyes pour down ^(AM)unceasingly,
Without stopping,
⁵⁰ Until Yahweh ^(AN)looks down
And sees from heaven.
⁵¹ My eyes deal severely with my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵² My enemies ^(AO)without cause
Hunted me down ^(AP)like a bird;
⁵³ They have silenced my life ^(AQ)in the pit
And have ^[k](AR)placed a stone on me.
⁵⁴ Waters flowed ^(AS)over my head;
I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵ I ^(AT)called on Your name, O Yahweh,
Out of the lowest pit.
⁵⁶ You have ^(AU)heard my voice,
“^(AV)Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help.”
⁵⁷ You ^(AW)drew near when I called on You;
You said, “^(AX)Do not fear!”

⁵⁸ O Lord, You ^(AY)have pleaded my soul’s cause;
You have ^(AZ)redeemed my life.
⁵⁹ O Yahweh, You have ^(BA)seen my oppression;
^(BB)Judge my case.
⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance,
All their ^(BC)purposes against me.

⁶¹ You have heard their ^(BD)reproach, O Yahweh,
All their purposes against me.
⁶² The ^(BE)lips of those who rise against me and their whispering
Are against me all day long.
⁶³ Look on their ^(BF)sitting and their rising;
^(BG)I am their mocking song.

⁶⁴ You will ^(BH)recompense them, O Yahweh,
According to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵ You will give them ^[l](BI)dullness of heart;
Your curse will be on them.
⁶⁶ You will ^(BJ)pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the ^(BK)heavens of Yahweh!