Lamentations 3:1-18
Christian Standard Bible
Hope through God’s Mercy
א Aleph
3 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 He has driven me away and forced me to walk
in darkness instead of light.(A)
3 Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand
against me all day long.
ב Beth
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin;(B)
he has broken my bones.(C)
5 He has laid siege against me,(D)
encircling me with bitterness and hardship.(E)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those who have been dead for ages.(F)
ג Gimel
7 He has walled me in so I cannot get out;(G)
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he blocks out my prayer.(H)
9 He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone;(I)
he has made my paths crooked.(J)
ד Daleth
10 He is[a] a bear waiting in ambush,
a lion in hiding.(K)
11 He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he left me desolate.
12 He strung his bow(L)
and set me as the target for his arrow.
ה He
13 He pierced my kidneys
with shafts from his quiver.(M)
14 I am a laughingstock(N) to all my people,[b]
mocked by their songs(O) all day long.
15 He filled me with bitterness,
satiated me with wormwood.(P)
ו Waw
16 He ground my teeth with gravel(Q)
and made me cower[c] in the dust.
17 I have been deprived[d] of peace;(R)
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 Then I thought, “My future[e] is lost,
as well as my hope from the Lord.”
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