NRSV Lamentations 3 Chapter
1 2 3 4 5
3:1
I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath;
3:2
he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3:3
against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all 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 sit 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 a bear lying in wait for me, 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 shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver;
3:14
I have become the laughingstock of all my people, the object of their taunt-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 all that I had hoped for from the LORD."
3:19
The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and 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 your 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 one to bear the yoke in youth,
3:28
to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it,
3:29
to put one's mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope),
3:30
to give one's cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
3:31
For the Lord will not reject forever.
3:32
Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
3:33
for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
3:34
When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot,
3:35
when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High,
3:36
when one's case is subverted-- does the Lord not see it?
3:37
Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it?
3:38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
3:39
Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins?
3:40
Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD.
3:41
Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.
3:42
We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
3:43
You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;
3:44
you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
3:45
You have made us filth and rubbish among the peoples.
3:46
All our enemies have opened their mouths 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 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 young women in my city.
3:52
Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird;
3:53
they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me;
3:54
water closed over my head; I said, "I am lost."
3:55
I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;
3:56
you heard my plea, "Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!"
3:57
You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!"
3:58
You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life.
3:59
You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.
3:60
You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
3:61
You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me.
3:62
The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long.
3:63
Whether they sit or rise-- see, I am the object of their taunt-songs.
3:64
Pay them back for their deeds, O LORD, according to the work of their hands!
3:65
Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them!
3:66
Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the LORD's heavens.