Lamentations 3
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised
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
King James Version
3 I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:
19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.
35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission.
50 Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me;
62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64 Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.
Lamentaciones 3
La Biblia de las Américas
Lamentación del afligido
3 Yo soy el hombre que ha visto la aflicción
bajo la vara de su furor(A).
2 Él me ha llevado y me ha hecho andar
en tinieblas y no en luz(B).
3 Ciertamente contra mí ha vuelto y revuelto
su mano(C) todo el día.
4 Ha hecho que se consuman mi carne y mi piel,
ha quebrado mis huesos(D).
5 Me ha sitiado[a] y rodeado
de amargura[b](E) y de fatiga(F).
6 En lugares tenebrosos me ha hecho morar,
como los que han muerto hace tiempo(G).
7 Con muro me ha cercado y no puedo salir(H),
ha hecho pesadas mis cadenas[c](I).
8 Aun cuando clamo y pido auxilio,
Él cierra el paso a mi oración(J).
9 Ha cerrado[d] mis caminos con piedra labrada,
ha hecho tortuosos mis senderos(K).
10 Él es para mí como oso en acecho,
como león en lugares ocultos.
11 Ha desviado mis caminos y me ha destrozado(L),
me ha dejado desolado.
12 Ha entesado su arco(M)
y me ha puesto como blanco de la flecha(N).
13 Hizo que penetraran en mis entrañas[e]
las flechas[f] de su aljaba(O).
14 He venido a ser objeto de burla de todo mi pueblo(P),
su copla(Q) todo el día.
15 Él me ha llenado de amargura,
me ha embriagado con ajenjo(R).
16 Ha quebrado con guijarro(S) mis dientes(T),
ha hecho que me revuelque en el polvo(U).
17 Y mi alma ha sido privada[g] de la paz(V),
he olvidado la felicidad[h].
18 Digo, pues: Ha perecido mi vigor,
y mi esperanza(W) que venía del Señor.
19 Acuérdate de mi aflicción y de mi vagar[i],
del ajenjo y de la amargura[j](X).
20 Ciertamente lo recuerda y se abate
mi alma(Y) dentro de mí(Z).
21 Esto traigo a mi corazón,
por esto tengo esperanza(AA):
22 Que las misericordias del Señor jamás terminan[k](AB),
pues nunca fallan sus bondades(AC);
23 son nuevas cada mañana(AD);
¡grande es tu fidelidad(AE)!
24 El Señor es mi porción —dice mi alma(AF)—
por eso en Él espero(AG).
25 Bueno es el Señor para los que en Él esperan(AH),
para el alma que le busca(AI).
26 Bueno es esperar en silencio
la salvación del Señor(AJ).
27 Bueno es para el hombre llevar
el yugo en su juventud.
28 Que se siente solo(AK) y en silencio
ya que Él se lo ha impuesto;
29 que ponga su boca en el polvo(AL),
quizá haya esperanza(AM);
30 que dé la mejilla(AN) al que lo hiere;
que se sacie de oprobios.
31 Porque no rechaza para siempre el Señor(AO),
32 antes bien, si aflige, también se compadecerá
según su gran misericordia(AP).
33 Porque Él no castiga por gusto[l],
ni aflige a los hijos de los hombres(AQ).
34 Aplastar bajo los[m] pies
a todos los prisioneros de un país,
35 privar del[n] derecho a un hombre
en presencia del Altísimo(AR),
36 defraudar[o] a un hombre en su litigio:
estas cosas no aprueba[p] el Señor(AS).
37 ¿Quién es aquel[q] que habla y así sucede,
a menos que el Señor lo haya ordenado(AT)?
38 ¿No salen de la boca del Altísimo
tanto el mal como el bien(AU)?
39 ¿Por qué ha de quejarse el ser viviente?
¡Sea valiente frente a sus pecados(AV)!
40 Examinemos nuestros caminos y escudriñémoslos,
y volvamos al Señor(AW);
41 alcemos nuestro corazón en nuestras manos[r]
hacia Dios en los cielos(AX).
42 Nosotros hemos transgredido y nos hemos rebelado(AY);
tú no has perdonado(AZ).
43 Te has cubierto de ira y nos has perseguido(BA);
has matado y no has perdonado(BB).
44 Te has cubierto de una nube(BC)
para que no pase la oración(BD).
45 Basura y escoria nos has hecho
en medio de los pueblos(BE).
46 Han abierto su boca contra nosotros
todos nuestros enemigos(BF).
47 Terror y foso nos han sobrevenido(BG),
desolación y destrucción.
48 Arroyos de agua derraman mis ojos
a causa de la destrucción[s] de la hija de mi pueblo(BH).
49 Mis ojos fluyen sin cesar,
ya que no hay descanso(BI)
50 hasta que mire y vea
el Señor desde los cielos(BJ).
51 Mis ojos causan dolor a mi alma
por todas las hijas de mi ciudad.
52 Constantemente me han dado caza(BK) como a un ave(BL)
mis enemigos, sin haber causa;
53 silenciaron mi vida en la fosa(BM),
pusieron piedra[t](BN) sobre mí.
54 Cubrieron las aguas mi cabeza,
dije: ¡Estoy perdido(BO)!
55 Invoqué tu nombre, oh Señor,
desde la fosa más profunda(BP).
56 Tú oíste mi voz(BQ): No escondas
tu oído a mi clamor(BR), a mi grito de auxilio.
57 Te acercaste el día que te invoqué(BS),
dijiste: No temas(BT).
58 Tú has defendido, oh Señor, la causa de mi alma(BU),
tú has redimido mi vida(BV).
59 Tú has visto, oh Señor, mi opresión(BW),
juzga mi causa(BX).
60 Has visto toda su venganza,
todas sus tramas contra mí(BY).
61 Has oído sus oprobios, oh Señor,
todas sus tramas contra mí(BZ);
62 los labios de mis agresores y sus murmuraciones
están contra mí todo el día(CA).
63 Se sienten o se levanten, míralos(CB),
yo soy el objeto de su copla(CC).
64 Tú les darás su pago, oh Señor,
conforme a la obra de sus manos(CD).
65 Les darás dureza[u] de corazón(CE),
tu maldición será sobre ellos.
66 Los perseguirás con ira y los destruirás(CF)
de debajo de los cielos del Señor(CG).
Footnotes
- Lamentaciones 3:5 Lit., Ha edificado contra mí
- Lamentaciones 3:5 Lit., hiel
- Lamentaciones 3:7 Lit., mi bronce
- Lamentaciones 3:9 Lit., cercado
- Lamentaciones 3:13 Lit., riñones
- Lamentaciones 3:13 Lit., hijos
- Lamentaciones 3:17 Lit., has rechazado
- Lamentaciones 3:17 Lit., el bien
- Lamentaciones 3:19 O, sufrimiento
- Lamentaciones 3:19 Lit., hiel
- Lamentaciones 3:22 Así en un ms., el Targum y la versión siriaca; en heb., porque no somos consumidos
- Lamentaciones 3:33 Lit., de su corazón
- Lamentaciones 3:34 Lit., sus
- Lamentaciones 3:35 O, poner a un lado el
- Lamentaciones 3:36 Lit., hacer torcer
- Lamentaciones 3:36 Lit., ve
- Lamentaciones 3:37 Lit., este
- Lamentaciones 3:41 Lit., a las palmas
- Lamentaciones 3:48 Lit., quebranto
- Lamentaciones 3:53 O, arrojaron piedra
- Lamentaciones 3:65 O, insolencia
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 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.
