Lamentations 3 — MSB
3Verse 1I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.Verse 2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.Verse 3Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.Verse 4He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.Verse 5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.Verse 6He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.Verse 7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.Verse 8Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.Verse 9He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.Verse 10He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.Verse 11He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.Verse 12He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.Verse 13He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.Verse 14I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.Verse 15He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.Verse 16He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.Verse 17My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.Verse 18So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”Verse 19Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.Verse 20Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.Verse 21Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:Verse 22Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.Verse 23They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!Verse 24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”Verse 25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.Verse 26It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.Verse 27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.Verse 28Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.Verse 29Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope.Verse 30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.Verse 31For the Lord will not cast us off forever.Verse 32Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.Verse 33For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.Verse 34To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,Verse 35to deny a man justice before the Most High,Verse 36to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.Verse 37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?Verse 38Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?Verse 39Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?Verse 40Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.Verse 41Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:Verse 42“We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”Verse 43You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.Verse 44You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.Verse 45You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.Verse 46All our enemies open their mouths against us.Verse 47Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.Verse 48Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.Verse 49My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,Verse 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.Verse 51My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.Verse 52Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.Verse 53They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.Verse 54The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.Verse 55I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.Verse 56You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”Verse 57You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”Verse 58You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.Verse 59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!Verse 60You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.Verse 61O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—Verse 62the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.Verse 63When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.Verse 64You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.Verse 65Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!Verse 66You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.