Lamentations 3:1-9

New King James Version

The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
²He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
³Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.

⁴He has aged ^(A)my flesh and my skin,
And ^(B)broken my bones.
⁵He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and ^[a]woe.
⁶^(C)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.

⁷^(D)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
⁸Even ^(E)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
⁹He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.

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Footnotes

Lamentations 3:5 hardship or weariness

Lamentations 3:19-24

New King James Version

¹⁹Remember my affliction and roaming,
^(A)The wormwood and the ^[a]gall.
²⁰My soul still remembers
And ^[b]sinks within me.
²¹This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have ^(B)hope.

²²^(C)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions ^(D)fail not.
²³They are new ^(E)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴“The Lord is my ^(F)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ^(G)hope in Him!”