Lamentations 3
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3:1 I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.
3:2 By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.
3:3 Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.
3:4 My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.
3:5 He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.
3:6 He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.
3:7 He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.
3:8 Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.
3:9 He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.
3:10 He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.
3:11 By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.
3:12 With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.
3:13 He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.
3:14 I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.
3:15 He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.
3:16 By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.
3:17 My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.
3:18 And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.
3:19 Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.
3:20 My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.
3:21 This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.
3:22 It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.
3:23 They are new every morning; great is your good faith.
3:24 I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.
3:25 The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.
3:26 It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
3:27 It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.
3:28 Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.
3:29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.
3:30 Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.
3:31 For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.
3:32 For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.
3:33 For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
3:34 In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
3:35 In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.
3:36 In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.
3:37 Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?
3:38 Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
3:39 What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?
3:40 Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;
3:41 Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
3:42 We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.
3:43 Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;
3:44 Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.
3:45 You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.
3:46 The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.
3:47 Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.
3:48 Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3:49 My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,
3:50 Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.
3:51 The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
3:52 They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;
3:53 They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.
3:54 Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.
3:55 I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.
3:56 My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.
3:57 You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.
3:58 O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.
3:59 O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.
3:60 You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.
3:61 Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;
3:62 The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.
3:63 Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.
3:64 You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.
3:65 You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.
3:66 You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.