Lamentations 3:1-36

English Standard Version

Great Is Your Faithfulness

3 ^(A)I am the man who has seen affliction
    under the ^(B)rod of his wrath;
²he has driven and brought me
    ^(C)into darkness without any light;
³surely against me he turns his hand
    again and again the whole day long.

⁴He 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;
⁸though ^(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.

¹³He 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;
¹⁷my 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!
²⁰My soul continually remembers it
    ^(AC)and is bowed down within me.
²¹But 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;
²³they 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.”

²⁵The 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.
²⁷^(AM)It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke ^(AN)in his youth.

²⁸Let him ^(AO)sit alone in silence
    when it is laid on him;
²⁹^(AP)let him put his mouth in the dust—
    there may yet be hope;
³⁰^(AQ)let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
    and let him be filled with insults.

³¹^(AR)For the Lord will not
    cast off forever,
³²but, though he ^(AS)cause grief, ^(AT)he will have compassion
    ^(AU)according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
³³^(AV)for he does not afflict from his heart
    or ^(AW)grieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush underfoot
    all ^(AX)the prisoners of the earth,
³⁵^(AY)to deny a man justice
    in the presence of the Most High,
³⁶to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
    ^(AZ)the Lord does not approve.