Lamentations 3:1-66 NASBS

[1] I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath. [2] He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. [3] Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day. [4] He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones. [5] He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. [6] In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead. [7] He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy. [8] Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. [9] He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. [10] He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places. [11] He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate. [12] He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow. [13] He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts. [14] I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day. [15] He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. [16] He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. [17] My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. [18] So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD." [19] Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. [20] Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me. [21] This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. [22] The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. [23] They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. [24] "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him." [25] The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. [26] It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD. [27] It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth. [28] Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him. [29] Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope. [30] Let him give his cheek to the smiter, 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. [33] For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men. [34] To 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- Of these things the Lord does not approve. [37] Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it? [38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth? [39] Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins? [40] Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD. [41] We lift up our heart and hands 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 and have not spared. [44] You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through. [45] You have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples. [46] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. [47] Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction; [48] My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. [49] My eyes pour down unceasingly, Without stopping, [50] Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven. [51] My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. [52] My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird; [53] They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me. [54] Waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!" [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 when I called on You; You said, "Do not fear!" [58] O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause; You have redeemed my life. [59] O LORD, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case. [60] You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. [61] You have heard their reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me. [62] The lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long. [63] Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song. [64] You will recompense them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. [65] You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them. [66] You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD!