Lamentations 3:1-66 CEB

[1] I am someone who saw the suffering caused by God’s angry rod. [2] He drove me away, forced me to walk in darkness, not light. [3] He turned his hand even against me, over and over again, all day long. [4] He wore out my flesh and my skin; he broke my bones. [5] He besieged me, surrounding me with bitterness and weariness. [6] He made me live in dark places like those who’ve been dead a long time. [7] He walled me in so I couldn’t escape; he made my chains heavy. [8] Even though I call out and cry for help, he silences my prayer. [9] He walled in my paths with stonework; he made my routes crooked. [10] He is a bear lurking for me, a lion in hiding. [11] He took me from my path and tore me apart; he made me desolate. [12] He drew back his bow, made me a shooting target for arrows. [13] He shot the arrows of his quiver into my inside parts. [14] I have become a joke to all my people, the object of their song of ridicule all day long. [15] He saturated me with grief, made me choke on bitterness. [16] He crushed my teeth into the gravel; he pressed me down into the ashes. [17] I’ve rejected peace; I’ve forgotten what is good. [18] I thought: My future is gone, as well as my hope from the LORD. [19] The memory of my suffering and homelessness is bitterness and poison. [20] I can’t help but remember and am depressed. [21] I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait. [22] Certainly the faithful love of the LORD hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! [23] They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness. [24] I think: The LORD is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him. [25] The LORD is good to those who hope in him, to the person who seeks him. [26] It’s good to wait in silence for the LORD’s deliverance. [27] It’s good for a man to carry a yoke in his youth. [28] He should sit alone and be silent when God lays it on him. [29] He should put his mouth in the dirt—perhaps there is hope. [30] He should offer his cheek for a blow; he should be filled with shame. [31] My Lord definitely won’t reject forever. [32] Although he has caused grief, he will show compassion in measure with his covenant loyalty. [33] He definitely doesn’t enjoy affliction, making humans suffer. [34] Now crushing underfoot all the earth’s prisoners, [35] denying someone justice before the Most High, [36] subverting a person’s lawsuit—doesn’t my Lord see all this? [37] Who ever spoke and it happened if my Lord hadn’t commanded the same? [38] From the mouth of the Most High evil things don’t come, but rather good! [39] Why then does any living person complain; why should anyone complain about their sins? [40] We must search and examine our ways; we must return to the LORD. [41] We should lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven. [42] We are the ones who did wrong; we rebelled. But you, God, have not forgiven. [43] You wrapped yourself up in wrath and hunted us; you killed, showing no compassion. [44] You wrapped yourself up in a cloud; prayers can’t make it through! [45] You made us trash and garbage in front of all other people. [46] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. [47] Terror and trap have come upon us, catastrophe and collapse! [48] Streams of water pour from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. [49] My eyes flow and don’t stop. There is no relief [50] until the LORD looks down from the heavens and notices. [51] My eyes hurt me because of what’s happened to my city’s daughters. [52] My enemies hunted me down like a bird, relentlessly, for no reason. [53] They caught me alive in a pit and threw stones at me; [54] water flowed over my head. I thought: I’m finished. [55] I call on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit. [56] Hear my voice. Don’t close your ear to my need for relief, to my cry for help. [57] Come near to me on the day I call to you. Say to me, “Don’t be afraid.” [58] My Lord! Plead my desperate case; redeem my life. [59] LORD, look at my mistreatment; judge my cause. [60] Look at all of my enemies’ vengeance, all of their scheming against me. [61] Hear their jeering, LORD, all of their scheming against me, [62] the speech of those who rise up against me, their incessant gossiping about me. [63] Whether sitting or standing, look at how I am the object of their song of ridicule. [64] Pay them back fully, LORD, according to what they have done. [65] Give them a tortured mind—put your curse on them! [66] Angrily hunt them down; wipe them out from under the LORD’s heaven.