Lamentations 3:1-18
Legacy Standard Bible
Jeremiah’s Heavy Chain
Aleph
3 I am the man who has (A)seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In (B)darkness and not in light.
3 Surely against me He has (C)turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
Beth
4 He has caused my (D)flesh and my skin to waste away;
He has (E)broken my bones.
5 He has (F)besieged and encompassed me with (G)gall and hardship.
6 (H)Dark places He has made me inhabit,
Like those who have long been dead.
Gimel
7 He has (I)walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my [a](J)chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He (K)shuts out my prayer.
9 He has (L)blocked my ways with cut stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
Daleth
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has turned aside my ways and (M)torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He (N)bent His bow
And (O)set me as a target for the arrow.
He
13 He made the [b]arrows of His (P)quiver
To enter into my [c]inward parts.
14 I have become a (Q)laughingstock to all my people,
Their (R)music of mockery all the day.
15 He has (S)saturated me with bitterness;
He has sated me with wormwood.
Vav
16 He has (T)broken my teeth with (U)gravel;
He has made me cower in the (V)dust.
17 My soul has been rejected (W)from peace;
I have forgotten goodness.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished,
As well as my (X)hopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:7 Lit bronze piece
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit sons
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit kidneys
Lamentations 3:1-18
Evangelical Heritage Version
A Ray of Hope in the Midst of Anguish[a]
3 I am the man who has experienced affliction under the rod of his fury.
2 He drove me off and brought me into darkness instead of light.
3 See how he turns against me. He turns his hand against me all day long.
4 He wore out my flesh and my skin. He shattered my bones.
5 He built siege works against me. He surrounded me with bitterness
and hardship.
6 He made me dwell in dark places, like people who died long ago.
7 He walled me in, so I cannot leave. He made my chains heavy.
8 Even when I call and cry out, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my way with a stone wall. He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is about to ambush me like a bear, like a lion lying in wait.
11 He diverted me off my path and tore me to pieces. He made
me desolate.
12 He bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He shot the arrows from his quiver into my heart.[b]
14 I was a laughingstock to all my people, the target of their song
all day long.
15 He has made me eat bitter food and drink my fill of wormwood.
16 He broke my teeth with gravel. He pushed me down into[c] the ashes.
17 You deprived my soul of peace. I have forgotten what well-being[d] is.
18 I said, “My endurance has vanished, along with my hope from
the Lord.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an alphabetic acrostic. The 66 verses in the chapter form 22 groups, with three verses in each group. All three lines of each group of verses begin with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in alphabetic order. This chapter is the high point of the acrostic structure of Lamentations and includes most of the lines of bright hope contained in the five poems that make up the composition.
- Lamentations 3:13 Literally kidneys
- Lamentations 3:16 Or made me grovel in
- Lamentations 3:17 Or prosperity
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