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Lamentations 3
New American Standard Bible
Lamentations 3
New American Standard Bible
Jeremiah Shares Israel’s Misery
3 I am the man who has (A)seen misery
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In (B)darkness and not in light.
3 Indeed, He has (C)turned His hand against me
Repeatedly all the day.
4 He has consumed my (D)flesh and my skin,
He has (E)broken my bones.
5 He has [a](F)besieged and surrounded me with [b](G)bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me live in (H)dark places,
Like those who have long been dead.
7 He has (I)walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my [c](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 twisted my paths.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has made my ways deviate, and (M)torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He (N)bent His bow
And (O)took aim at me as a target for the arrow.
13 He made the [d]arrows of His (P)quiver
Enter my [e]inward parts.
14 I have become a (Q)laughingstock to all my people,
Their (R)song of ridicule all the day.
15 He has (S)filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink plenty of wormwood.
16 He has also (T)made my teeth grind with (U)gravel;
He has made me cower in the (V)dust.
17 My soul has been excluded (W)from peace;
I have forgotten [f]happiness.
18 So I say, “My [g]strength has failed,
And so has my (X)hope from the Lord.”
Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy
19 Remember my misery and my homelessness, the (Y)wormwood and [h]bitterness.
20 (Z)My soul certainly remembers,
And [i]is (AA)bent over within me.
21 I recall this to my mind,
Therefore I [j](AB)wait.
22 [k]The Lord’s (AC)acts of mercy indeed do not end,
(AD)For His compassions do not fail.
23 They are new (AE)every morning;
Great is (AF)Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my (AG)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I [l](AH)wait for Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who [m](AI)await Him,
To the [n]person who (AJ)seeks Him.
26 It is good that he (AK)waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him (AL)sit alone and keep quiet,
Since He has laid it on him.
29 Let him [o]put his mouth in the (AM)dust;
Perhaps there is (AN)hope.
30 Let him give his (AO)cheek to the one who is going to strike him;
Let him be filled with shame.
31 For the Lord will (AP)not reject forever,
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have (AQ)compassion
In proportion to His abundant mercy.
33 For He (AR)does not [p]afflict [q]willingly
Or [r]grieve the sons of mankind.
34 To crush under [s]one’s feet
All the prisoners of the [t]land,
35 To [u]deprive a man of (AS)justice
In the presence of the Most High,
36 To [v](AT)defraud someone in his lawsuit—
Of these things the Lord does not [w]approve.
37 Who is [x]there who speaks and it (AU)comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That [y](AV)both adversity and good proceed?
39 Of what can any living [z]mortal, or any man,
(AW)Complain [aa]in view of his sins?
40 Let’s (AX)examine and search out our ways,
And let’s return to the Lord.
41 We (AY)raise our heart [ab]and hands
Toward God in heaven;
42 We have (AZ)done wrong and rebelled;
You have (BA)not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with (BB)anger
And (BC)pursued us;
You have slain and (BD)have not spared.
44 You have (BE)veiled Yourself with a cloud
So that (BF)no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us mere (BG)refuse and rubbish
In the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies have (BH)opened their mouths against us.
47 (BI)Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
Devastation and destruction;
48 My [ac](BJ)eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow (BK)unceasingly,
Without stopping,
50 Until the Lord (BL)looks down
And sees from heaven.
51 My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies (BM)without reason
Hunted me down (BN)like a bird;
53 They have silenced [ad]me (BO)in the pit
And have [ae](BP)thrown stones on me.
54 Waters flowed (BQ)over my head;
I said, “I am [af]cut off!”
55 I (BR)called on Your name, Lord,
Out of the lowest pit.
56 You have (BS)heard my voice,
“(BT)Do not cover Your ear from my plea for relief,
From my cry for help.”
57 You (BU)came near on the day I called to You;
You said, “(BV)Do not fear!”
58 Lord, You (BW)have pleaded my soul’s cause;
You have (BX)redeemed my life.
59 Lord, You have (BY)seen my oppression;
(BZ)Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their (CA)schemes against me.
61 You have heard their (CB)reproach, Lord,
All their schemes against me.
62 The (CC)lips of my assailants and their talk
Are against me all day long.
63 Look at their [ag](CD)sitting and their rising;
(CE)I am their mocking song.
64 You will (CF)repay them, Lord,
In accordance with the work of their hands.
65 You will give them [ah](CG)shamelessness of heart,
Your curse will be on them.
66 You will (CH)pursue them in anger and eliminate them
From under the (CI)heavens of the Lord!
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:5 Lit built against
- Lamentations 3:5 Lit poison
- Lamentations 3:7 Lit bronze piece
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit sons
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit kidneys
- Lamentations 3:17 Lit good
- Lamentations 3:18 Or splendor
- Lamentations 3:19 Lit poison
- Lamentations 3:20 Or bows down
- Lamentations 3:21 Lit have hope
- Lamentations 3:22 As in ancient versions; MT It is...mercy that we do not end
- Lamentations 3:24 Or hope in
- Lamentations 3:25 Or hope in
- Lamentations 3:25 Lit soul
- Lamentations 3:29 Lit give
- Lamentations 3:33 Or oppress
- Lamentations 3:33 Lit from His heart
- Lamentations 3:33 Or torment
- Lamentations 3:34 Lit his
- Lamentations 3:34 Or earth
- Lamentations 3:35 Or turn aside a man’s case
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit bend
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit see
- Lamentations 3:37 Lit this
- Lamentations 3:38 Lit the evil things and the good
- Lamentations 3:39 Or human being
- Lamentations 3:39 Or on the basis of
- Lamentations 3:41 Lit toward our
- Lamentations 3:48 Lit eye goes down
- Lamentations 3:53 Lit my life
- Lamentations 3:53 Or thrown a stone
- Lamentations 3:54 Or destroyed
- Lamentations 3:63 I.e., daily activities
- Lamentations 3:65 Or insanity
Lamentations 3
New Living Translation
Lamentations 3
New Living Translation
Hope in the Lord’s Faithfulness
3 I am the one who has seen the afflictions
that come from the rod of the Lord’s anger.
2 He has led me into darkness,
shutting out all light.
3 He has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and flesh grow old.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me
with anguish and distress.
6 He has buried me in a dark place,
like those long dead.
7 He has walled me in, and I cannot escape.
He has bound me in heavy chains.
8 And though I cry and shout,
he has shut out my prayers.
9 He has blocked my way with a high stone wall;
he has made my road crooked.
10 He has hidden like a bear or a lion,
waiting to attack me.
11 He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces,
leaving me helpless and devastated.
12 He has drawn his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He shot his arrows
deep into my heart.
14 My own people laugh at me.
All day long they sing their mocking songs.
15 He has filled me with bitterness
and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.
16 He has made me chew on gravel.
He has rolled me in the dust.
17 Peace has been stripped away,
and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.[a]
20 I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
21 Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends![b]
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
26 So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:
28 Let them sit alone in silence
beneath the Lord’s demands.
29 Let them lie face down in the dust,
for there may be hope at last.
30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
and accept the insults of their enemies.
31 For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
33 For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.
34 If people crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the land,
35 if they deprive others of their rights
in defiance of the Most High,
36 if they twist justice in the courts—
doesn’t the Lord see all these things?
37 Who can command things to happen
without the Lord’s permission?
38 Does not the Most High
send both calamity and good?
39 Then why should we, mere humans, complain
when we are punished for our sins?
40 Instead, let us test and examine our ways.
Let us turn back to the Lord.
41 Let us lift our hearts and hands
to God in heaven and say,
42 “We have sinned and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven us.
43 “You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down,
and slaughtered us without mercy.
44 You have hidden yourself in a cloud
so our prayers cannot reach you.
45 You have discarded us as refuse and garbage
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies
have spoken out against us.
47 We are filled with fear,
for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.”
48 Tears stream from my eyes
because of the destruction of my people!
49 My tears flow endlessly;
they will not stop
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 My heart is breaking
over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.
52 My enemies, whom I have never harmed,
hunted me down like a bird.
53 They threw me into a pit
and dropped stones on me.
54 The water rose over my head,
and I cried out, “This is the end!”
55 But I called on your name, Lord,
from deep within the pit.
56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!
Hear my cry for help!”
57 Yes, you came when I called;
you told me, “Do not fear.”
58 Lord, you have come to my defense;
you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong they have done to me, Lord.
Be my judge, and prove me right.
60 You have seen the vengeful plots
my enemies have laid against me.
61 Lord, you have heard the vile names they call me.
You know all about the plans they have made.
62 My enemies whisper and mutter
as they plot against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Whether they sit or stand,
I am the object of their mocking songs.
64 Pay them back, Lord,
for all the evil they have done.
65 Give them hard and stubborn hearts,
and then let your curse fall on them!
66 Chase them down in your anger,
destroying them beneath the Lord’s heavens.
Lamentations 3
The Message
Lamentations 3
The Message
God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness
3 1-3 I’m the man who has seen trouble,
trouble coming from the lash of God’s anger.
He took me by the hand and walked me
into pitch-black darkness.
Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand
over and over and over again.
4-6 He turned me into a skeleton
of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,
poured on the trouble and hard times.
He locked me up in deep darkness,
like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
7-9 He shuts me in so I’ll never get out,
handcuffs my wrists, shackles my feet.
Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
He sets up blockades with quarried limestone.
He’s got me cornered.
10-12 He’s a prowling bear tracking me down,
a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces.
When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
He took out his bow and arrows
and used me for target practice.
13-15 He shot me in the stomach
with arrows from his quiver.
Everyone took me for a joke,
made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat,
bloated me with vile drinks.
16-18 He ground my face into the gravel.
He pounded me into the mud.
I gave up on life altogether.
I’ve forgotten what the good life is like.
I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished.
God is a lost cause.”
It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19-21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
to stick it out through the hard times.
28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The “worst” is never the worst.
31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:
34-36 Stomping down hard
on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
the Master does not approve of such things.
God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
37-39 Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?
It’s the Master who gives such orders.
Doesn’t the High God speak everything,
good things and hard things alike, into being?
And why would anyone gifted with life
complain when punished for sin?
40-42 Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living
and reorder our lives under God.
Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,
praying to God in heaven:
“We’ve been contrary and willful,
and you haven’t forgiven.
43-45 “You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back.
You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds
so no prayers could get through.
You treated us like dirty dishwater,
threw us out in the backyard of the nations.
46-48 “Our enemies shout abuse,
their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
We’ve been to hell and back.
We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
Rivers of tears pour from my eyes
at the smashup of my dear people.
49-51 “The tears stream from my eyes,
an artesian well of tears,
Until you, God, look down from on high,
look and see my tears.
When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,
the pain breaks my heart.
52-54 “Enemies with no reason to be enemies
hunted me down like a bird.
They threw me into a pit,
then pelted me with stones.
Then the rains came and filled the pit.
The water rose over my head. I said, ‘It’s all over.’
55-57 “I called out your name, O God,
called from the bottom of the pit.
You listened when I called out, ‘Don’t shut your ears!
Get me out of here! Save me!’
You came close when I called out.
You said, ‘It’s going to be all right.’
58-60 “You took my side, Master;
you brought me back alive!
God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me.
Give me my day in court!
Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes,
their plots to destroy me.
61-63 “You heard, God, their vicious gossip,
their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief,
hatching malice, day after day after day.
Sitting down or standing up—just look at them!—
they mock me with vulgar doggerel.
64-66 “Make them pay for what they’ve done, God.
Give them their just deserts.
Break their miserable hearts!
Damn their eyes!
Get good and angry. Hunt them down.
Make a total demolition here under your heaven!”
Lamentations 3
New International Version
Lamentations 3
New International Version
3 [a]I am the man who has seen affliction(A)
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(B)
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness(C) rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me(D)
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(E)
and has broken my bones.(F)
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness(G) and hardship.(H)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.(I)
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(J)
he has weighed me down with chains.(K)
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,(L)
he shuts out my prayer.(M)
9 He has barred(N) my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.(O)
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion(P) in hiding,(Q)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(R) me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(S)
and made me the target(T) for his arrows.(U)
13 He pierced(V) my heart
with arrows from his quiver.(W)
14 I became the laughingstock(X) of all my people;(Y)
they mock me in song(Z) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.(AA)
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(AB)
he has trampled me in the dust.(AC)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”(AD)
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness(AE) and the gall.(AF)
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast(AG) within me.(AH)
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love(AI) we are not consumed,(AJ)
for his compassions never fail.(AK)
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(AL)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(AM)
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;(AN)
26 it is good to wait quietly(AO)
for the salvation of the Lord.(AP)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,(AQ)
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(AR)—
there may yet be hope.(AS)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(AT)
and let him be filled with disgrace.(AU)
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.(AV)
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.(AW)
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.(AX)
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,(AY)
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?(AZ)
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?(BA)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?(BB)
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?(BC)
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(BD)
and let us return to the Lord.(BE)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven,(BF) and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled(BG)
and you have not forgiven.(BH)
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued(BI) us;
you have slain without pity.(BJ)
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud(BK)
so that no prayer(BL) can get through.(BM)
45 You have made us scum(BN) and refuse
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide(BO) against us.(BP)
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,(BQ)
ruin and destruction.(BR)”
48 Streams of tears(BS) flow from my eyes(BT)
because my people are destroyed.(BU)
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,(BV)
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.(BW)
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.(BX)
53 They tried to end my life in a pit(BY)
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,(BZ)
and I thought I was about to perish.(CA)
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths(CB) of the pit.(CC)
56 You heard my plea:(CD) “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near(CE) when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”(CF)
58 You, Lord, took up my case;(CG)
you redeemed my life.(CH)
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.(CI)
Uphold my cause!(CJ)
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.(CK)
Footnotes
- 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.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.