Lamentations 3:1-66 NASB

[1] I am the man who has seen misery Because of the rod of His wrath. [2] He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. [3] Indeed, He has turned His hand against me Repeatedly all the day. [4] He has consumed my flesh and my skin, He has broken 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 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 cut stone; He has twisted my paths. [10] He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places. [11] He has made my ways deviate, and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate. [12] He bent His bow And took aim at me as a target for the arrow. [13] He made the arrows of His quiver Enter my inward parts. [14] I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their song of ridicule all the day. [15] He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink plenty of wormwood. [16] He has also made my teeth grind with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. [17] My soul has been excluded from peace; I have forgotten happiness. [18] So I say, “My strength has failed, And so has my hope from the Lord.” [19] Remember my misery and my homelessness, the wormwood and bitterness. [20] My soul certainly remembers, And is bent over within me. [21] I recall this to my mind, Therefore I wait. [22] The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail. [23] They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. [24] “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.” [25] The Lord is good to those who await 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 to bear The yoke in his youth. [28] Let him sit alone and keep quiet, 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 one who is going to strike him; Let him be filled with shame. [31] For the Lord will not reject forever, [32] For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion In proportion to His abundant mercy. [33] For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of mankind. [34] To crush under one’s feet All the prisoners of the land, [35] To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High, [36] To defraud someone 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 adversity and good proceed? [39] Of what can any living mortal, or any man, Complain in view of his sins? [40] Let’s examine and search out our ways, And let’s return to the Lord. [41] We raise our heart and hands Toward God in heaven; [42] We have done wrong 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 veiled Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through. [45] You have made us mere refuse and rubbish In the midst of the peoples. [46] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. [47] Panic and pitfall have come upon 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 flow 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 reason Hunted me down like a bird; [53] They have silenced me in the pit And have thrown stones on me. [54] Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!” [55] I called on Your name, Lord, Out of the lowest pit. [56] You have heard my voice, “Do not cover Your ear from my plea for relief, From my cry for help.” [57] You came near on the day I called to You; You said, “Do not fear!” [58] Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life. [59] 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, Lord, All their schemes against me. [62] The lips of my assailants and their talk Are against me all day long. [63] Look at their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song. [64] You will repay them, Lord, In accordance with the work of their hands. [65] You will give them shamelessness of heart, Your curse will be on them. [66] You will pursue them in anger and eliminate them From under the heavens of the Lord!