Lamentations 3:1-26

English Standard Version

⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
    ^(D)he has broken my bones;
^5 (E)he has besieged and enveloped me
    with ^(F)bitterness and tribulation;
^6 (G)he has made me dwell in darkness
    like the dead of long ago.

^7 (H)He has walled me about so that ^(I)I cannot escape;
    he has made my chains heavy;
⁸ though ^(J)I call and cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer;
^9 (K)he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
    he has made my paths crooked.

^10 (L)He is a bear lying in wait for me,
    a lion in hiding;
^11 (M)he turned aside my steps and ^(N)tore me to pieces;
    ^(O)he has made me desolate;
^12 (P)he bent his bow ^(Q)and set me
    as a target for his arrow.

¹³ He drove into my kidneys
    ^(R)the arrows of his quiver;
^14 (S)I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
    ^(T)the object of their taunts all day long.
^15 (U)He has filled me with bitterness;
    he has sated me with ^(V)wormwood.

^16 (W)He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
    and ^(X)made me cower in ashes;
¹⁷ my soul is bereft of peace;
    I have forgotten what happiness^[a] is;
^18 (Y)so I say, “My endurance has perished;
    so has my hope from the Lord.”

^19 (Z)Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
    ^(AA)the wormwood and ^(AB)the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
    ^(AC)and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind,
    and ^(AD)therefore I have hope:

^22 (AE)The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^{[b]
    (AF)}his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new ^(AG)every morning;
    ^(AH)great is your faithfulness.
^24 (AI)“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    ^(AJ)“therefore I will hope in him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who ^(AK)wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
^26 (AL)It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.