Lamentations 3:1-66 AMP

[1] I am [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath. [2] He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. [3] Surely He has turned His hand against me Repeatedly all the day. [4] He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away; He has shattered my bones. [5] He has besieged and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. [6] He has made me live in dark places Like those who have long been dead. [7] He walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain. [8] Even when I cry out and shout for help, He shuts out my prayer. [9] He has blocked my ways with cut stone; He has made my paths crooked. [10] He is to me like a bear lying in wait, And like a lion [hiding] in secret places. [11] He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate. [12] He has bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow. [13] He has caused the arrows of His quiver To enter my inner parts. [14] I have become the [object of] ridicule to all my people, And [the subject of] their mocking song all the day. [15] He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drunk with wormwood (bitterness). [16] He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has [covered me with ashes and] made me cower in the dust. [17] My soul has been cast far away from peace; I have forgotten happiness. [18] So I say, “My strength has perished And so has my hope and expectation from the LORD.” [19] Remember [O LORD] my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall (bitterness). [20] My soul continually remembers them And is bowed down within me. [21] But this I call to mind, Therefore I have hope. [22] It is because of the LORD’S lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, Because His [tender] compassions never fail. [23] They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness. [24] “The LORD is my portion and my inheritance,” says my soul; “Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” [25] The LORD is good to those who wait [confidently] for Him, To those who seek Him [on the authority of God’s word]. [26] It is good that one waits quietly For the salvation of the LORD. [27] It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke [of godly discipline] in his youth. [28] Let him sit alone [in hope] and keep quiet, Because God has laid it on him [for his benefit]. [29] Let him put his mouth in the dust [in recognition of his unworthiness]; There may yet be hope. [30] Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him; Let him be filled with reproach. [31] For the Lord will not reject forever, [32] For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness and tender mercy. [33] For He does not afflict willingly and from His heart Or grieve the children of men. [34] To trample and crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land, [35] To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High, [36] To defraud a man in his lawsuit—The Lord does not approve of these things. [37] Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has authorized and commanded it? [38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both adversity (misfortune) and good (prosperity, happiness) proceed? [39] Why should any living mortal, or any man, Complain [of punishment] in view of his sins? [40] Let us test and examine our ways, And let us return to the LORD. [41] Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [in prayer] Toward God in heaven; [42] We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned. [43] You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain [without pity] and have not spared. [44] You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through. [45] You have made us scum and refuse Among the peoples (Gentile nations). [46] All our enemies have gaped at us. [47] Panic and pitfall (traps, danger) have come on us, Devastation and destruction. [48] My eyes overflow with streams of tears Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (Jerusalem). [49] My eyes overflow unceasingly, Without stopping, [50] Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven. [51] My eyes [see things that] bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. [52] Without cause my enemies Hunted me down like a bird; [53] They silenced me in the pit And placed a stone over me. [54] The waters ran down on my head; I said, “I am cut off (destroyed)!” [55] I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit. [56] You have heard my voice, “Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help.” [57] You drew near on the day I called to You; You said, “Do not fear.” [58] O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause [You have guided my way and protected me]; You have rescued and redeemed my life. [59] O LORD, You have seen the wrong [done to me]; Judge my case. [60] You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. [61] You have heard their reproach, O LORD, And all their schemes against me. [62] The lips and whispering of my assailants Are against me all day long. [63] Look at their sitting and their rising [their actions and secret counsels]; I am their mocking song [the subject of their ridicule]. [64] You will repay them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. [65] You will harden their hearts; Your curse will be upon them. [66] You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD.