Lamentations 3:19-40
New American Standard Bible 1995
Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy
19 Remember my affliction and my [a]wandering, the (A)wormwood and bitterness.
20 Surely (B)my soul remembers
And is (C)bowed down within me.
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have (D)hope.
22 The Lord’s (E)lovingkindnesses [b]indeed never cease,
(F)For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new (G)every morning;
Great is (H)Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my (I)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I (J)have hope in Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who (K)wait for Him,
To the [c]person who (L)seeks Him.
26 It is good that he (M)waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him (N)sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him.
29 Let him [d]put his mouth in the (O)dust,
Perhaps there is (P)hope.
30 Let him give his (Q)cheek to [e]the smiter,
Let him be filled with reproach.
31 For the Lord will (R)not reject forever,
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have (S)compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.
33 For He (T)does not afflict [f]willingly
Or grieve the sons of men.
34 To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the [g]land,
35 To [h]deprive a man of (U)justice
In the presence of the Most High,
36 To [i](V)defraud a man in his lawsuit—
Of these things the Lord does not [j]approve.
37 Who is [k]there who speaks and it (W)comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That [l](X)both good and ill go forth?
39 Why should any living [m]mortal, or any man,
Offer (Y)complaint [n]in view of his sins?
40 Let us (Z)examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the Lord.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:19 Or bitterness
- Lamentations 3:22 Or that we are not consumed
- Lamentations 3:25 Lit soul
- Lamentations 3:29 Lit give
- Lamentations 3:30 Lit his
- Lamentations 3:33 Lit from His heart
- Lamentations 3:34 Or earth
- Lamentations 3:35 Or turn aside a man’s case
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit make crooked
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit see
- Lamentations 3:37 Lit this
- Lamentations 3:38 Lit the evil things and the good
- Lamentations 3:39 Or human being
- Lamentations 3:39 Or on the basis of
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
