Lamentations 3
3
Third lament
There is still hope
The prophet speaks:
1I have suffered much
because God was angry.
2He chased me into a dark place,
where no light could enter.
3I am the only one he punishes
over and over again,
without ever stopping.
4God caused my skin and flesh
to waste away,
and he crushed my bones.
5He attacked and surrounded me
with hardships and trouble;
6he forced me to sit in the dark
like someone long dead.
7God built a fence around me
that I cannot climb over,
and he chained me down.
8Even when I shouted
and prayed for help,
he refused to listen.
9God put big rocks in my way
and made me follow
a crooked path.
10God was like a bear or a lion
waiting in ambush for me;
11he dragged me from the road,
then tore me to shreds.#3.11 shreds: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 11.
12God took careful aim
and shot his arrows
13straight through my heart.
14I am a joke to everyone—
no one ever stops
making fun of me.
15God has turned my life sour.
16He made me eat gravel
and rubbed me in the earth.
17I cannot find peace
or remember happiness.
18I tell myself, “I am finished!
I can't count on the LORD
to do anything for me.”
19Just thinking of my troubles
and my lonely wandering
makes me miserable.
20That's all I ever think about,
and I am depressed.#3.20 I am depressed: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
21Then I remember something
that fills me with hope.
22The LORD's kindness never fails!
If he had not been merciful,
we would have been destroyed.#3.22 destroyed: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 22.
23The LORD can always be trusted
to show mercy each morning.
24Deep in my heart I say,
“The LORD is all I need;
I can depend on him!”
25The LORD is kind to everyone
who trusts and obeys him.
26It is good to wait patiently
for the LORD to save us.
27When we are young,
it is good to struggle hard
28and to sit silently alone,
if this is what
the LORD intends.
29Being rubbed in the earth
can teach us a lesson;#3.29 lesson: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 29.
30we can also learn from insults
and hard knocks.
31The Lord won't always reject us!
32He causes a lot of suffering,
but he also has pity
because of his great love.
33The Lord doesn't enjoy
sending grief or pain.
34Don't trample prisoners
under your feet
35or cheat anyone out of
what is rightfully theirs.
God Most High sees everything,
36and he knows when you refuse
to give someone a fair trial.
37No one can do anything
without the Lord's approval.
38Good and bad each happen
at the command
of God Most High.
39We're still alive!
We shouldn't complain
when we are being punished
for our sins.
40Instead, we should think
about the way we are living,
and turn back to the LORD.
41When we lift our hands
in prayer to God in heaven,
we should offer him our hearts
and say, 42“We've sinned!
We've rebelled against you,
and you haven't forgiven us!
43Anger is written all over you,
as you pursue and slaughter us
without showing pity.
44You are behind a wall of clouds
that blocks out our prayers.
45You allowed nations
to treat us like rubbish;
46our enemies curse us.
47We are terrified and trapped,
caught and crushed.”
48My people are destroyed!
Tears flood my eyes,
49and they won't stop
50until the LORD looks down
from heaven and helps.
51I am horrified when I see
what enemies have done
to the young women of our city.
52No one had reason to hate me,
but I was hunted down
like a bird.
53Then they tried to kill me
by tossing me into a pit
and throwing stones at me.
54Water covered my head—
I thought I was gone.
55From the bottom of the pit,
I prayed to you, LORD.
56I begged you to listen.
“Help!” I shouted. “Save me!”
You answered my prayer
57and came when I was in need.
You told me, “Don't worry!”
58You rescued me
and saved my life.
59You saw them abuse me, LORD,
so make things right.
60You know every plot
they have made against me.
61Yes, you know their insults
and their evil plans.
62All day long they attack
with words and whispers.
63No matter what they are doing,
they keep on mocking me.
64Pay them back for everything
they have done, LORD!
65Put your curse on them
and make them suffer.#3.65 make them suffer: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
66Get angry and go after them
until not a trace is left
under the heavens.
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Lamentations 3: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Lamentations 3
3
1I am the man that hath seen affliction
By the rod of his wrath.
2He hath led me, and brought me
Into darkness, but not into light.
3Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand
Against me all the day.
4My flesh and my skin hath he made old;
He hath broken my bones.
5He hath builded against me,
And compassed me with gall and travail.
6He hath set me in dark places,
As they that be dead of old.
7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out:
He hath made my chain heavy.
8Also when I cry and shout,
He shutteth out my prayer.
9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone,
He hath made my paths crooked.
10He was unto me as a bear lying in wait,
And as a lion in secret places.
11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces:
He hath made me desolate.
12He hath bent his bow, and set me
As a mark for the arrow.
13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver
To enter into my reins.
14I was a derision to all my people;
And their song all the day.
15He hath filled me with bitterness,
He hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones,
He hath covered me with ashes.
17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace:
I forgat prosperity.
18And I said, My strength and my hope
Is perished from the LORD:
19Remembering mine affliction and my misery,
The wormwood and the gall.
20My soul hath them still in remembrance,
And is humbled in me.
21This I recall to my mind,
Therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed,
Because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning:
Great is thy faithfulness.
24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul;
Therefore will I hope in him.
25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him,
To the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly
Wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bear
The yoke in his youth.
28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence,
Because he hath borne it upon him.
29He putteth his mouth in the dust;
If so be there may be hope.
30He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him:
He is filled full with reproach.
31For the Lord will not
Cast off for ever:
32But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion
According to the multitude of his mercies.
33For he doth not afflict willingly
Nor grieve the children of men.
34To crush under his feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
35To turn aside the right of a man
Before the face of the Most High,
36To subvert a man in his cause,
The Lord approveth not.
37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass,
When the Lord commandeth it not?
38Out of the mouth of the Most High
Proceedeth not evil and good?
39Wherefore doth a living man complain,
A man for the punishment of his sins?
40Let us search and try our ways,
And turn again to the LORD.
41Let us lift up our heart with our hands
Unto God in the heavens.
42We have transgressed and have rebelled:
Thou hast not pardoned.
43Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us:
Thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud,
That our prayer should not pass through.
45Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the people.
46All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47Fear and a snare is come upon us,
Desolation and destruction.
48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not,
Without any intermission,
50Till the LORD look down,
And behold from heaven.
51Mine eye affecteth mine heart
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird,
Without cause.
53They have cut off my life in the dungeon,
And cast a stone upon me.
54Waters flowed over mine head;
Then I said, I am cut off.
55I called upon thy name, O LORD,
Out of the low dungeon.
56Thou hast heard my voice:
Hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee:
Thou saidst, Fear not.
58O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul;
Thou hast redeemed my life.
59O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong:
Judge thou my cause.
60Thou hast seen all their vengeance
And all their imaginations against me.
61Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD,
And all their imaginations against me;
62The lips of those that rose up against me,
And their device against me all the day.
63Behold their sitting down, and their rising up;
I am their musick.
64Render unto them a recompence, O LORD,
According to the work of their hands.
65Give them sorrow of heart,
Thy curse unto them.
66Persecute and destroy them in anger
From under the heavens of the LORD.
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