Lamentations

¹ I ^[a] am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of God’s wrath.

² He has driven me away and made me walk

in darkness instead of light.

³ Indeed, He keeps turning His hand

against me all day long.

⁴ He has worn away my flesh and skin;

He has shattered my bones.

⁵ He has besieged me and surrounded me

with bitterness and hardship.

⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness

like those dead for ages.

⁷ He has walled me in so I cannot escape;

He has weighed me down with chains.

⁸ Even when I cry out and plead for help,

He shuts out my prayer.

⁹ He has barred my ways with cut stones;

He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ He is a bear lying in wait,

a lion hiding in ambush.

¹¹ He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces;

He left me without help.

¹² He bent His bow

and set me as the target for His arrow.

¹³ He pierced my kidneys

with His arrows.

¹⁴ I am a laughingstock to all my people;

they mock me in song all day long.

¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness;

He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

¹⁶ He has ground my teeth with gravel

and trampled me in the dust.

¹⁷ My soul has been deprived of peace;

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

¹⁸ So I say, “My strength has perished,

along with my hope from the LORD.”

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and wandering,

the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰ Surely my soul remembers

and is humbled within me.

²¹ Yet I call this to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the loving devotion ^[b] of the LORD we are not consumed,

for His mercies never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness!

²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in Him.”

²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

to the soul who seeks Him.

²⁶ It is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke

while he is still young.

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence,

for God has disciplined him.

²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust—

perhaps there is still hope.

³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him;

let him be filled with reproach.

³¹ For the Lord will not

cast us off forever.

³² Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion

according to His abundant loving devotion.

³³ For He does not willingly afflict

or grieve the sons of men.

³⁴ To crush underfoot

all the prisoners of the land,

³⁵ to deny a man justice

before the Most High,

³⁶ to subvert a man in his lawsuit—

of these the Lord does not approve.

³⁷ Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has ordained it?

³⁸ Do not both adversity and good

come from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹ Why should any mortal man complain,

in view of his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us examine and test our ways,

and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

⁴² “We have sinned and rebelled;

You have not forgiven.”

⁴³ You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;

You have killed without pity.

⁴⁴ You have covered Yourself with a cloud

that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵ You have made us scum and refuse

among the nations.

⁴⁶ All our enemies

open their mouths against us.

⁴⁷ Panic and pitfall have come upon us—

devastation and destruction.

⁴⁸ Streams of tears flow from my eyes

over the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ My eyes overflow unceasingly,

without relief,

⁵⁰ until the LORD

looks down from heaven and sees.

⁵¹ My eyes bring grief to my soul

because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵² Without cause my enemies

hunted me like a bird.

⁵³ They dropped me alive into a pit

and cast stones upon me.

⁵⁴ The waters flowed over my head,

and I thought I was going to die.

⁵⁵ I called on Your name, O LORD,

out of the depths of the Pit.

⁵⁶ You heard my plea:

“Do not ignore my cry for relief.”

⁵⁷ You drew near when I called on You;

You said, “Do not be afraid.”

⁵⁸ You defend my cause, O Lord;

You redeem my life.

⁵⁹ You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me;

vindicate my cause!

⁶⁰ You have seen all their malice,

all their plots against me.

⁶¹ O LORD, You have heard their insults,

all their plots against me—

⁶² the slander and murmuring of my assailants

against me all day long.

⁶³ When they sit and when they rise,

see how they mock me in song.

⁶⁴ You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,

according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵ Put a veil of anguish over their hearts;

may Your curse be upon them!

⁶⁶ You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them

from under Your heavens, O LORD.