Lamentations 3
Jeremiah Shares Israel’s Misery
1 I am the man who has aseen misery
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In bdarkness and not in light.
3 Indeed, He has cturned His hand against me
Repeatedly all the day.
4 He has consumed my dflesh and my skin,
He has ebroken my bones.
5 He has ▼
▼Lit built against
,
gbesieged and surrounded me with ▼▼Lit poison
,
ibitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me live in jdark places,
Like those who have long been dead.
7 He has kwalled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my ▼
▼Lit bronze piece
,
mchain heavy. 8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He nshuts out my prayer.
9 He has oblocked my ways with cut stone;
He has twisted my paths.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has made my ways deviate, and ptorn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He qbent His bow
And rtook aim at me as a target for the arrow.
13 He made the ▼
▼Lit sons
arrows of His tquiver Enter my ▼
▼Lit kidneys
inward parts. 14 I have become a vlaughingstock to all my people,
Their wsong of ridicule all the day.
15 He has xfilled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink plenty of wormwood.
16 He has also ymade my teeth grind with zgravel;
He has made me cower in the aadust.
17 My soul has been excluded abfrom peace;
I have forgotten ▼
▼Lit good
happiness. 18 So I say, “My ▼
▼Or splendor
strength has failed, And so has my aehope from the Lord.”
Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy
19 Remember my misery and my homelessness, the afwormwood and ▼
▼Lit poison
bitterness. 20 ahMy soul certainly remembers,
And ▼
▼Or bows down
is ajbent over within me. 21 I recall this to my mind,
Therefore I ▼
▼Lit have hope
,
alwait. 22 ▼
▼As in ancient versions; MT It is...mercy that we do not end
The Lord’s anacts of mercy indeed do not end, aoFor His compassions do not fail.
23 They are new apevery morning;
Great is aqYour faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my arportion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ▼
▼Or hope in
,
atwait for Him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who ▼
▼Or hope in
,
avawait Him, To the ▼
▼Lit soul
person who axseeks Him. 26 It is good that he aywaits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him azsit alone and keep quiet,
Since He has laid it on him.
29 Let him ▼
▼Lit give
put his mouth in the bbdust; Perhaps there is bchope.
30 Let him give his bdcheek to the one who is going to strike him;
Let him be filled with shame.
31 For the Lord will benot reject forever,
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have bfcompassion
In proportion to His abundant mercy.
33 For He bgdoes not ▼
▼Or oppress
afflict ▼▼Lit from His heart
willingly Or ▼
▼Or torment
grieve the sons of mankind. 34 To crush under ▼
▼Lit his
one’s feet All the prisoners of the ▼
▼Or earth
land, 35 To ▼
▼Or turn aside a man’s case
deprive a man of bnjustice In the presence of the Most High,
36 To ▼
▼Lit bend
,
bpdefraud someone in his lawsuit-- Of these things the Lord does not ▼
▼Lit see
approve. 37 Who is ▼
▼Lit this
there who speaks and it bscomes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ▼
▼Lit the evil things and the good
,
buboth adversity and good proceed? 39 Of what can any living ▼
▼Or human being
mortal, or any man, bwComplain ▼
▼Or on the basis of
in view of his sins? 40 Let’s byexamine and search out our ways,
And let’s return to the Lord.
41 We bzraise our heart ▼
▼Lit toward our
and hands Toward God in heaven;
42 We have cbdone wrong and rebelled;
You have ccnot pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with cdanger
And cepursued us;
You have slain and cfhave not spared.
44 You have cgveiled Yourself with a cloud
So that chno prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us mere cirefuse and rubbish
In the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies have cjopened their mouths against us.
47 ckPanic and pitfall have come upon us,
Devastation and destruction;
48 My ▼
▼Lit eye goes down
,
cmeyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow cnunceasingly,
Without stopping,
50 Until the Lord colooks down
And sees from heaven.
51 My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies cpwithout reason
Hunted me down cqlike a bird;
53 They have silenced ▼
▼Lit my life
me csin the pit And have ▼
▼Or thrown a stone
,
cuthrown stones on me. 54 Waters flowed cvover my head;
I said, “I am ▼
▼Or destroyed
cut off!” 55 I cxcalled on Your name, Lord,
Out of the lowest pit.
56 You have cyheard my voice,
“ czDo not cover Your ear from my plea for relief,
From my cry for help.”
57 You dacame near on the day I called to You;
You said, “ dbDo not fear!”
58 Lord, You dchave pleaded my soul’s cause;
You have ddredeemed my life.
59 Lord, You have deseen my oppression;
dfJudge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their dgschemes against me.
61 You have heard their dhreproach, Lord,
All their schemes against me.
62 The dilips of my assailants and their talk
Are against me all day long.
63 Look at their ▼
▼I.e., daily activities
,
dksitting and their rising; dlI am their mocking song.
64 You will dmrepay them, Lord,
In accordance with the work of their hands.
65 You will give them ▼
▼Or insanity
,
doshamelessness of heart, Your curse will be on them.
66 You will dppursue them in anger and eliminate them
From under the dqheavens of the Lord!
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