Lamentations 3:17-40

I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. So I said, “My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the LORD.” ז (Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison. I continually think about this, and I am depressed. But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope: ח (Khet) The LORD’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end. They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant! “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him. ט (Tet) The LORD is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. י (Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the LORD is disciplining him. Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope. Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults. כ (Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever. Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people. ל (Lamed) To crush underfoot all the earth’s prisoners, to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High, to defraud a person in a lawsuit – the Lord does not approve of such things! מ (Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes – both calamity and blessing? Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? נ (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the LORD.