Lamentations 3:1-21 ▼

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 gall and hardship.

6 Dark places He has made me inhabit, 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 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 music of mockery all the day.

15 He has saturated me with bitterness; He has sated me 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 goodness.

18 So I say, “My strength has perished, As well as my hopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh.”

19 Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and gall.

20 Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.

21 This I will return to my heart; Therefore I will wait in hope.