Lamentations 3
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
God’s Steadfast Love Endures
3 I am one who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s[a] wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
3 against me alone he turns his hand,
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,
and broken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6 he has made me sit in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;
8 though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
12 he bent his bow and set me
as a mark for his arrow.
13 He shot into my vitals
the arrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the laughing-stock of all my people,
the object of their taunt-songs all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
he has glutted me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 so I say, ‘Gone is my glory,
and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.’
19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
20 My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,[b]
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will hope in him.’
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
28 to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
29 to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
30 to give one’s cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not
reject for ever.
32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.
34 When all the prisoners of the land
are crushed under foot,
35 when human rights are perverted
in the presence of the Most High,
36 when one’s case is subverted
—does the Lord not see it?
37 Who can command and have it done,
if the Lord has not ordained it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39 Why should any who draw breath complain
about the punishment of their sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
to God in heaven.
42 We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43 You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;
44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us filth and rubbish
among the peoples.
46 All our enemies
have opened their mouths against us;
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.
48 My eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of my people.
49 My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees.
51 My eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the young women in my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
have hunted me like a bird;
53 they flung me alive into a pit
and hurled stones on me;
54 water closed over my head;
I said, ‘I am lost.’
55 I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56 you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear
to my cry for help, but give me relief!’
57 You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’
58 You have taken up my cause, O Lord,
you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their malice,
all their plots against me.
61 You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62 The whispers and murmurs of my assailants
are against me all day long.
63 Whether they sit or rise—see,
I am the object of their taunt-songs.
64 Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord,
according to the work of their hands!
65 Give them anguish of heart;
your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the Lord’s heavens.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:1 Heb his
- Lamentations 3:22 Syr Tg: Heb Lord, we are not cut off
Lamentations 3
Maori Bible
3 Ko ahau te tangata kua kite i te pouri, he mea na te rakau o tona riri.
2 I arahina e ia, i meinga kia haere i te pouri, kahore i te marama.
3 He pono kua tahuri mai ia ki ahau, kua anga mai tona ringa ki ahau, a pau noa te ra.
4 Kua meinga nei e ia oku kikokiko me toku kiri kia rite ki o te koroheke, mangungu kau i a ia oku wheua.
5 Kua hanga e ia he patu moku; karapotia ana ahau ki te wai kawa, ki te raruraru.
6 Kua meinga ahau e ia kia noho ki nga wahi pouri, kia pera me te hunga kua mate noa ake.
7 Kua oti ahau te taiepa mai e ia, te puta atu ahau; kua meinga e ia toku mekameka kia taimaha.
8 Ae ra, i ahau e karanga ana, e hamama ana kia awhinatia, ka araia mai e ia taku inoi.
9 Kua oti ano oku ara te taiepa mai e ia ki te kohatu tarai, whakakopikopikoa ake e ia oku ara.
10 Ko tona rite ki ahau kei te pea e whanga ana, kei te raiona i nga wahi ngaro.
11 Whakangaua ketia ana e ia oku ara, haehaea putia iho ahau; meinga ana ahau e ia kia noho kau noa iho.
12 Kua whakapikoa e ia tana kopere, a whakaturia ake ahau e ia hei koperenga pere.
13 Kua meinga e ia nga pere o tana papa pere kia ngoto ki oku whatumanawa.
14 Kua waiho ahau hei katanga ma toku iwi katoa; hei waiata ma ratou a pau noa te ra.
15 Kua whakakiia ahau e ia ki nga mea kawa, whakainumia rawatia ana ahau e ia ki te taru kawa.
16 Kua whatiwhatiia ano hoki e ia oku niho ki te kirikiri, hipokina ana ahau e ia ki te pungarehu.
17 Kua nekehia atu e koe toku wairua kei tata ki te rangimarie; i wareware ahau ki te pai.
18 Ki tonu ake ahau, kua pirau toku kaha, kahore he tumanakohanga maku ki a Ihowa.
19 Mahara ki toku ngakau mamae, ki toku pouri, ki te taru kawa, ki te wai kawa.
20 Maharahara tonu toku wairua ki a ratou, piko tonu iho i roto i ahau.
21 E whakahokia ake ana tenei e ahau ki toku ngakau, koia i tumanako ai ahau.
22 He mahi tohu na Ihowa te poto ai tatou, he kore no ana mahi aroha e mutu.
23 E hou tonu ana ratou i tenei ata, i tenei ata; he nui tou pono.
24 Ko Ihowa te wahi moku, e ai ta toku wairua; no reira ka tumanako ahau ki a ia.
25 He pai a Ihowa ki te hunga e tumanako ana ki a ia, ki te wairua e rapu ana i a ia.
26 He pai ano kia tumanako te tangata, kia tatari marie hoki ki ta Ihowa whakaora.
27 He pai ano mo te tangata kia amohia e ia te ioka i tona tamarikitanga.
28 Me noho ia, tona kotahi, me whakarongo puku hoki, no te mea nana i uta ki a ia.
29 Me tuku e ia tona mangai ki te puehu; mehemea pea tera he tumanakohanga.
30 Me hoatu e ia tona paparinga ki te tangata e papaki ana i a ia: kia ki tonu ia i te tawai.
31 E kore hoki e mau tonu ta Ihowa panga:
32 Ahakoa whakapouri ia, ka aroha ano ia, ka rite ki te nui o tana mahi tohu.
33 Kahore hoki ona ngakau whiu, whakapouri ranei, i nga tama a te tangata.
34 Ko te kuru i nga herehere katoa o te whenua ki raro i ona waewae;
35 Ko te whakapeau ke i te tika o te tangata ina whakawakia i te aroaro o te Runga Rawa;
36 Ko te whakariro ke i ta te tangata ina totohe, e kore tena e whakapaingia e te Ariki.
37 Ko wai tenei hei ki mai, a ka oti, i te mea kihai i whakahaua e te Ariki?
38 He teka ianei e puta mai ana te kino me te pai i roto i te mangai o te Runga Rawa?
39 He aha te tangata ora i amuamu ai, te tangata ina whiua mo ona hara?
40 E rapu tatou, e kimi i o tatou ara, a ka tahuri ano ki a Ihowa.
41 Kia ara atu o tatou ngakau me o tatou ringa ki te Atua i te rangi.
42 I he matou, i whakakeke; kihai ano koe i muru i to matou he.
43 Kua hipokina nei e koe ki te riri, tukinotia ana matou e koe: tukitukia ana e koe, kihai ano i tohungia e koe.
44 Hipokina ana e koe he kapua ki a koe, kei puta atu ta matou inoi.
45 Kua meinga matou e koe hei paru tahinga, hei mea akiri i waenga i nga iwi.
46 Kua hamama mai nga mangai o o matou hoariri katoa ki a matou.
47 Ko te wehi, ko te rua, kua tae mai kei a matou, te whakamoti me te wawahi.
48 Kei te tarere nei nga awa wai i toku kanohi, mo te wawahanga o te tamahine a toku iwi.
49 Maturuturu ana te wai i toku kanohi, kahore hoki e mutu, te ai he pariratanga,
50 Kia titiro mai ra ano a Ihowa, kia kite mai ra ano ia i runga i te rangi.
51 E meatia iho ana toku ngakau e toku kanohi, mo nga tamahine katoa o toku pa.
52 Kua whaia kinotia ahau ano he manu e ratou, e te hunga e hoariri ana ki ahau, kahore he take.
53 Ngaro iho i a ratou toku ara i roto i te poka, kua maka e ratou he kohatu ki runga ki ahau.
54 I rere nga wai i runga i toku mahunga: i mea ahau, kua motuhia ketia ahau.
55 I karanga ahau ki tou ingoa, e Ihowa, i roto i te poka i raro rawa.
56 I rongo koe ki toku reo; kaua e huna tou taringa ki te tanga o toku manawa, ki taku karanga.
57 I whakatata mai koe i te ra i karanga ai ahau ki a koe; i ki mai koe, Kaua e wehi.
58 Kua tohea e koe, e te Ariki, nga tohe a toku wairua; kua hokona e koe toku ora.
59 Kua kite koe, e Ihowa, i te he i mahia ki ahau: mau e whakarite taku whakawa.
60 Kua kite koe i to ratou mauahara katoa, i o ratou whakaaro katoa moku.
61 Kua rongo koe ki ta ratou tawai, e Ihowa, ki o ratou whakaaro katoa moku;
62 Ki nga ngutu o te hunga i whakatika mai ki ahau, ki ta ratou tikanga moku, a pau noa te ra.
63 Tirohia mai to ratou nohoanga iho, to ratou whakatikanga ake; ko ahau te waiatatia nei e ratou.
64 Hoatu he utu ki a ratou, e Ihowa, kia rite ki te mahi a o ratou ringa.
65 Hoatu ki a ratou he ngakau pakeke, tau kanga ki a ratou.
66 Whaia ratou i runga i te riri, whakangaromia atu ratou i raro i nga rangi o Ihowa.
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.