Lamentations 3:1-66 VOICE

[1] Afflicted, I have seen and know what it's like to feel the rod of God's anger: [2] An absence of light and only darkness. Darkness-that's where God has driven me. [3] Against me and me alone, over and over, God raises His hand incessantly. [4] Bones are broken, skin rubbed off, and my flesh wasted; this is God's doing: [5] Besieged in hardship, wrapped in a husk of bitter poison and trouble; [6] Brought to darkness like those dead and decaying, and left there alone to live. [7] Cut off from every avenue of escape, God has fenced me in and tied me up with heavy chains. [8] Crying and carrying on do me no good; God shuts out my prayer. [9] Closed in and blocked by walls of cut stone, what paths I have left, He has twisted and confused my steps. [10] Dangerous as a stalking lion or a lurking bear, God lies in wait for me. [11] Dragging me off the path and tearing me up, He has left me desolate. [12] Drawing back His bow, God aims straight at me with His own arrow. [13] Ever true arrows, ready in His quiver, now sink into my gut. [14] Echoing taunts ring 'round me from the mouths of my own people, laughing and joking about me all day long. [15] Enough! He has filled me with bitterness, saturated me with gall. [16] For He crushes my teeth with a mouth filled with gravel; He humiliates me, trampling me in ashes. [17] Fragmented, my self knows no peace. I cannot remember what it's like to be happy. [18] "Failed," I say to myself. "My hope fails in the face of what the Eternal One has done." [19] Grievous thoughts of affliction and wandering plagued my mind- great bitterness and gall. [20] Grieving, my soul thinks back; these thoughts cripple, and I sink down. [21] Gaining hope, I remember and wait for this thought: [22] How enduring is God's loyal love; the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion. [23] Here they are, every morning, new! Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day. [24] Have courage, for the Eternal is all that I will need. My soul boasts, "Hope in God; just wait." [25] It is good. The Eternal One is good to those who expect Him, to those who seek Him wholeheartedly. [26] It is good to wait quietly for the Eternal to make things right again. [27] It is good to have to deal with restraint and burdens when young. [28] Just leave in peace the one who waits in silence, patiently bearing the burden of God; [29] Just don't interfere if he falls, gape-mouthed in the dust. There may well be hope yet. [30] Just let him offer his cheek when struck. Let him be the butt of jokes. [31] Kept in God's care: the Lord won't reject him forever. [32] Kindness prevails: Even though God torments sometimes, the greatness of God's loyal love wins out. [33] Keeping us down: it is not the desire or way of God's heart to hurt and grieve the children of men. [34] Left as captives of the land to be stomped on and crushed, [35] Legal action and human rights denied in the very presence of our exalted God, [36] Lord, surely You do not approve it-they deny one person's rights and a fair trial. [37] Matters not who says a thing will or won't happen unless the Lord determines that it should. [38] Most High God must proclaim it so- for both good and bad, joy and sorrow come from Him, so [39] Mind your complaint. Why should a person fuss when faced with the consequences of his own wrongdoing? [40] Now let's search out our thoughts and ways and return to the Eternal. [41] Now let's lift up to God in heaven our hearts along with our hands in praise and supplication. [42] Now, let us admit that we persisted in wrong and You, God, were right to deny us forgiveness. [43] You have wrapped Yourself in anger. You hunted us down and became our merciless killer. [44] Our prayers couldn't penetrate the cloud You then wrapped around Yourself. [45] Oh, we are trash: You've made us so in the eyes of all people. [46] Putting us down, our enemies scoff. They gape and gawk at us. [47] Panic and pitfalls are all around us, nothing but breakdown and decay. [48] Pouring out from my eyes are tears like rivers over the destruction of my people, daughter Zion. [49] Quenched? It can't be quenched, this sorrow in my eyes, [50] Quelled only by knowing that the Eternal looks down from heaven and sees. [51] Quickly I recoil from what my eyes see; I am choked with grief at the fate of the young women of my city. [52] Running me down, my enemies for no reason hunt me, a tiny bird. [53] Rattling my bones with stones thrown down on my head, having flung me mercilessly in a pit. [54] 'Round about me and over me, watery darkness closes in. I cry out, "I'm drowning! All is lost, lost." [55] Saying Your name, Eternal One, I called to You from the darkness of this pit. [56] Surely You've heard me say, "Don't be deaf to my call; bring me relief!" [57] So close when I've called out in my distress, You've whispered in my ear, "Do not be afraid." [58] Taking up my cause, Lord, You've been my champion. You've paid the price; You saved my life. [59] Terrible things have been done to me. You've seen it, Eternal One. Judge my case with justice. [60] Their abuses against me are not hidden from You. You've seen all the awful things my enemies determine to do to me. [61] Ugly words and uglier plans they have for me- You've heard it all, Eternal One. [62] Under their breath, my adversaries whispering about me, devising nasty schemes all the time. [63] Unkind jokes at my expense, whether they're sitting around or going to and fro. [64] Villains You will return to their recompense, Eternal One, according to their deeds. [65] Visit them with anguish and an insensitivity to Your words. Make Your curse fall hard on them. [66] Vehemently pummel them. Chase them down, obliterate them from below the heavens of the Eternal, from the earth itself.