Lamentations 3:19-66
World English Bible
19 Remember my affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the bitterness.
20 My soul still remembers them,
and is bowed down within me.
21 This I recall to my mind;
therefore I have hope.
22 It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed,
because his compassion doesn’t fail.
23 They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
24 “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul.
“Therefore I will hope in him.”
25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that a man should hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and keep silence,
because he has laid it on him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust,
if it is so that there may be hope.
30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him.
Let him be filled full of reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 For though he causes grief,
yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33 For he does not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass,
when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38 Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why does a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways,
and turn again to Yahweh.
41 Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God[a] in the heavens.
42 “We have transgressed and have rebelled.
You have not pardoned.
43 “You have covered us with anger and pursued us.
You have killed.
You have not pitied.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud,
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse
in the middle of the peoples.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47 Terror and the pit have come on us,
devastation and destruction.”
48 My eye runs down with streams of water,
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eye pours down
and doesn’t cease,
without any intermission,
50 until Yahweh looks down,
and sees from heaven.
51 My eye affects my soul,
because of all the daughters of my city.
52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird,
those who are my enemies without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon,
and have cast a stone on me.
54 Waters flowed over my head.
I said, “I am cut off.”
55 I called on your name, Yahweh,
out of the lowest dungeon.
56 You heard my voice:
“Don’t hide your ear from my sighing,
and my cry.”
57 You came near in the day that I called on you.
You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul.
You have redeemed my life.
59 Yahweh, you have seen my wrong.
Judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance
and all their plans against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, Yahweh,
and all their plans against me,
62 the lips of those that rose up against me,
and their plots against me all day long.
63 You see their sitting down and their rising up.
I am their song.
64 You will pay them back, Yahweh,
according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them hardness of heart,
your curse to them.
66 You will pursue them in anger,
and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.
Footnotes
- 3:41 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
Lamentations 3:19-66
International Standard Version
19 Remember my affliction and homelessness—
wormwood and gall!
20 My mind keeps reflecting on it,
and I become depressed.[a]
21 This is what comes to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s gracious love we are not consumed,
since his compassions never end.
23 They are new every morning—
great is your faithfulness!
24 “The Lord is all I have,”[b] says my soul,
“Therefore I will trust in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the person who searches for him.
26 It is good to hope and wait patiently
for the Lord’s salvation.
27 It is good when a young man carries the yoke
of discipline[c] in his youth.
28 He is to sit apart and remain silent,
because the Lord[d] has laid it upon him.
29 Let him fall face down in the dust,
so there may yet be hope.
30 He will endure being slapped in the face,
bringing him public disgrace.
31 Indeed, the Lord will not always
reject us[e]—
32 though he causes grief,
his compassion abounds according to his gracious love.
33 For he does not deliberately hurt
or grieve human beings.
34 When any of the prisoners of the earth
are crushed underfoot,
35 when a person’s rights are perverted
in defiance of the Most High.
36 When a man is thwarted in his appeal,
does the Lord condone[f] it?
37 Who can command, and it happens,
without the Lord having ordered it?
38 Do not both good and evil things proceed
from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should anyone living complain,
any mortal, about being punished for sin?
40 Let us examine our lifestyles,
putting them to the test,
and turn back to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts
and our hands
to God in heaven.
42 As for us, we have sinned and rebelled;
but you have not pardoned us.[g]
43 Clothing yourself with anger, you pursued us.
You killed without pity,
44 You covered yourself with a cloud
that prayer cannot pierce.
45 You have reduced us to scum and garbage
among the nations.
46 All our enemies
jeer at us with gaping mouths.
47 Panic and pitfalls beset us,
along with devastation and ruin.
48 My eyes run with rivers of tears
over the destruction of my cherished[h] people.
49 My tears pour[i] down ceaselessly;
I am far from relief
50 until the Lord bends down
to see from heaven.
51 What I see[j] grieves my soul
because of all the young women[k] of my city.
52 My enemies hunted me like a bird,
viciously and without justification.
53 They dumped me alive into a pit,
sealing me in with stone.[l]
54 Water closed over my head,
and I said, “I’m a dead man.”[m]
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the Pit,[n]
56 You heard my voice—
don’t close your ear to my sighs and cries.[o]
57 You drew near when I called out to you.
You said, “Stop being afraid”
58 Lord, you have defended my cause;
you have redeemed my life.
59 Lord, you observed how I have been wronged;
now make your ruling in my case.
60 You examined their plans for vengeance,
all of their plots against me.
61 Lord, you listened to their insults—
all their plots against me,
62 the whisperings of my opponents,
their scheming against me all day long.
63 Watch! Whether they sit down or stand up,
they mock me with their songs.
64 Pay them back, Lord,
according to their actions.
65 Give them an anguished heart;
may your curse be upon them!
66 Pursue them in your anger
and destroy them from under the Lord’s heaven.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:20 Lit. and sinks within me
- Lamentations 3:24 Lit. is my portion
- Lamentations 3:27 The Heb. lacks of discipline
- Lamentations 3:28 Lit. because he
- Lamentations 3:31 The Heb. lacks us
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit. see
- Lamentations 3:42 The Heb. lacks us
- Lamentations 3:48 Lit. of the daughter of
- Lamentations 3:49 Lit. My eye pours
- Lamentations 3:51 Lit. My eye
- Lamentations 3:51 Lit. the daughters
- Lamentations 3:53 Lit. pit, casting a stone at me
- Lamentations 3:54 Lit. “I’m cut off.”
- Lamentations 3:55 I.e. the place of punishment in the afterlife
- Lamentations 3:56 Lit. my relief, to my cry
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