Lamentations 3

Legacy Standard Bible

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!”

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!”

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.

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.

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!