Lamentations 3:1-20

World English Bible

3 I am the man who has seen affliction
    by the rod of his wrath.
² He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness,
    and not in light.
³ Surely he turns his hand against me
    again and again all day long.

⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin old.
    He has broken my bones.
⁵ He has built against me,
    and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
⁶ He has made me dwell in dark places,
    as those who have been long dead.

⁷ He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out.
    He has made my chain heavy.
⁸ Yes, when I cry, and call for help,
    he shuts out my prayer.
⁹ He has walled up my ways with cut stone.
    He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ He is to me as a bear lying in wait,
    as a lion in secret places.
¹¹ He has turned away my ways,
    and pulled me in pieces.
    He has made me desolate.
¹² He has bent his bow,
    and set me as a mark for the arrow.

¹³ He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
¹⁴     I have become a derision to all my people,
    and their song all day long.
¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness.
    He has stuffed me with wormwood.

¹⁶ He has also broken my teeth with gravel.
    He has covered me with ashes.
¹⁷ You have removed my soul far away from peace.
    I forgot prosperity.
¹⁸ I said, “My strength has perished,
    along with my expectation from Yahweh.”

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my misery,
    the wormwood and the bitterness.
²⁰ My soul still remembers them,
    and is bowed down within me.