Lamentations 3
¹ I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
² He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness and not in light.
³ Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.
⁴ My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
⁵ He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
⁶ He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
⁷ He hath fenced me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
⁸ Yea, when I cry and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.
⁹ He hath fenced up my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
¹⁰ He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
¹¹ He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
¹² He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
¹³ He hath caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.
¹⁴ I am become a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
¹⁵ He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.
¹⁶ He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
¹⁷ And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.
¹⁸ And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from the LORD.
¹⁹ Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
²⁰ My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.
²¹ This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
²² It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
²³ They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
²⁴ The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
²⁵ The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
²⁶ It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
²⁷ It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
²⁸ Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.
²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust; if so be there may he hope.
³⁰ Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be filled full with reproach.
³¹ For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
³² For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
³³ For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
³⁴ To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
³⁵ To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
³⁶ To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
³⁷ Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
³⁸ Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good?
³⁹ Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
⁴⁰ Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
⁴¹ Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
⁴² We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned.
⁴³ Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
⁴⁴ Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
⁴⁵ Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
⁴⁶ all our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
⁴⁷ Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction.
⁴⁸ Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
⁴⁹ Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
⁵⁰ Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
⁵¹ Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
⁵² They have chased me sore like a bird, that are mine enemies without cause.
⁵³ They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me.
⁵⁴ Waters flowed over mine head; I said, I am cut off.
⁵⁵ I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
⁵⁶ Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
⁵⁷ Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
⁵⁸ O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
⁵⁹ O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.
⁶⁰ Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.
⁶¹ Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their devices against me;
⁶² The lips of those that rose up against me, and their imagination against me all the day.
⁶³ Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.
⁶⁴ Thou wilt render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵ Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.
⁶⁶ Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.