Lamentations 3:1-18
Expanded Bible
The Meaning of Suffering
3 I am a man [C symbolizing Jerusalem] who has seen the ·suffering [affliction]
that comes from the rod of ·the Lord’s [L his] anger.
2 He ·led [L guided and brought] me
into darkness, not light.
3 He turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long [Jer. 21:5].
4 He ·wore out [wasted away] my flesh and skin
and broke my bones.
5 He ·surrounded me with sadness
and attacked me with grief [L has built up and besieged me with bitterness/or poverty and hardship].
6 He made me sit in the dark,
like those who have been dead a long time.
7 He ·shut me [L walled me] in so I could not get out;
he put heavy chains on me.
8 I cry out and beg for help,
but he ·ignores [obstructs] my prayer.
9 He ·blocked [L walled in] my way with ·a stone wall [L cut stones]
and ·led me in the wrong direction [L twisted my paths; Job 19:7–12].
10 He is like a bear ready to ·attack [ambush] me,
like a lion in hiding [Hos. 13:8; Amos 5:19].
11 He led me the wrong way and ·let me stray [or tore me to pieces]
and left me ·without help [desolate].
12 He ·prepared to shoot [has drawn] his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He shot me in the kidneys
with the arrows from his ·bag [quiver; Job 16:13].
14 I was a joke to all my people,
who make fun of me with ·songs [mocking songs] all day long [Ps. 22:7; 69:12; 119:51].
15 ·The Lord [L He] filled me with ·misery [bitterness];
he made me drunk with ·suffering [affliction; L wormwood; gall; C a bitter-tasting herb].
16 He ·broke [made me gnash] my teeth with gravel
and trampled me into the ·dirt [dust; ashes].
17 ·I have no more peace [L My life/soul is rejected from peace].
I have forgotten ·what happiness is [prosperity; L good].
18 I said, “My ·strength [luster; or endurance] ·is gone [has perished],
and I have no hope in the Lord.”
Lamentations 3:1-18
Amplified Bible
Jeremiah Shares Israel’s Affliction
3 I am [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2
He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3
Surely He has turned His hand against me
Repeatedly all the day.
4
He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away;
He has shattered my bones.
5
He has besieged and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6
He has made me live in dark places
Like those who have long been dead.
7
He walled me in so that I cannot get out;
He has weighted down my chain.
8
Even when I cry out and shout for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
9
He has blocked my ways with cut stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
And like a lion [hiding] in secret places.
11
He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12
He has bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
13
He has caused the arrows of His quiver
To enter my inner parts.
14
I have become the [object of] ridicule to all my people,
And [the subject of] their mocking song all the day.
15
He has filled me with bitterness;
He has made me drunk with wormwood (bitterness).
16
He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has [covered me with ashes and] made me cower in the dust.
17
My soul has been cast far away from peace;
I have forgotten happiness.
18
So I say, “My strength has perished
And so has my hope and expectation from the Lord.”
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
