Lamentations 3:1-18

New American Standard Bible 1995

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.
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)bitterness and hardship.
⁶ In ^(H)dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
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 hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
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.
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 mocking ^(R)song all the day.
¹⁵ He has ^(S)filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.
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 ^[d]happiness.
¹⁸ So I say, “My strength has perished,
And so has my ^(X)hope from the Lord.”