Lamentations 3:1-66 NKJV

[1] I am the man who has seen affliction by 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 Time and time again throughout the day. [4] He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones. [5] He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe. [6] He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago. [7] He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy. [8] Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. [9] He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. [10] He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush. [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 up as a target for the arrow. [13] He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins. [14] I have become the ridicule of all my people- Their taunting song all the day. [15] He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood. [16] He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes. [17] You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. [18] And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD." [19] Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. [20] My soul still remembers And sinks within me. [21] This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. [22] Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. [23] They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. [24] "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" [25] The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. [26] It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD. [27] It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. [28] Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him; [29] Let him put his mouth in the dust- There may yet be hope. [30] Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach. [31] For the Lord will not cast off forever. [32] Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. [33] For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men. [34] To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth, [35] To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High, [36] Or subvert a man in his cause- The Lord does not approve. [37] Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it? [38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed? [39] Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins? [40] Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD; [41] Let us lift our hearts and hands To 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 not pitied. [44] You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through. [45] You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples. [46] All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us. [47] Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction. [48] My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people. [49] My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption, [50] Till the LORD from heaven Looks down and sees. [51] My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. [52] My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird. [53] They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me. [54] The waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!" [55] I called on Your name, O LORD, From the lowest pit. [56] You have heard my voice: "Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help." [57] You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, "Do not fear!" [58] O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life. [59] O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; 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 enemies And their whispering against me all the day. [63] Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song. [64] Repay them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. [65] Give them a veiled heart; Your curse be upon them! [66] In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD.