RSV Lamentations 3 Chapter
1 2 3 4 5
3:1
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
3:2
he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3:3
surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
3:4
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
3:5
he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
3:6
he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
3:7
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;he has put heavy chains on me;
3:8
though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
3:9
he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
3:10
He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding;
3:11
he led me off my way and tore me to pieces;he has made me desolate;
3:12
he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.
3:13
He drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver;
3:14
I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long.
3:15
He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
3:16
He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
3:17
my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;
3:18
so I say, 'Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD.'
3:19
Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!
3:20
My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
3:21
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
3:22
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
3:23
they are new every morning;great is thy faithfulness.
3:24
'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'
3:25
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
3:26
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
3:27
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
3:28
Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him;
3:29
let him put his mouth in the dust -- there may yet be hope;
3:30
let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
3:31
For the Lord will not cast off for ever,
3:32
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
3:33
for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
3:34
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
3:35
to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High,
3:36
to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.
3:37
Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
3:38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?
3:39
Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
3:40
Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!
3:41
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
3:42
'We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven.
3:43
'Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity;
3:44
thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
3:45
Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples.
3:46
'All our enemies rail against us;
3:47
panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction;
3:48
my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3:49
'My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,
3:50
until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees;
3:51
my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city.
3:52
'I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;
3:53
they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;
3:54
water closed over my head;I said, I am lost.'
3:55
'I called on thy name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;
3:56
thou didst hear my plea, Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!'
3:57
Thou didst come near when I called on thee;thou didst say, Do not fear!'
3:58
'Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life.
3:59
Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O LORD;judge thou my cause.
3:60
Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
3:61
'Thou hast heard their taunts, O LORD, all their devices against me.
3:62
The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.
3:63
Behold their sitting and their rising;I am the burden of their songs.
3:64
'Thou wilt requite them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
3:65
Thou wilt give them dullness of heart;thy curse will be on them.
3:66
Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them from under thy heavens, O LORD.'