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Lamentations 3
New International Version

3 [a]I am the man who has seen affliction(A)
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(B)
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness(C) rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me(D)
again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(E)
and has broken my bones.(F)
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness(G) and hardship.(H)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.(I)

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(J)
he has weighed me down with chains.(K)
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,(L)
he shuts out my prayer.(M)
9 He has barred(N) my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.(O)

10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion(P) in hiding,(Q)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(R) me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(S)
and made me the target(T) for his arrows.(U)

13 He pierced(V) my heart
with arrows from his quiver.(W)
14 I became the laughingstock(X) of all my people;(Y)
they mock me in song(Z) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.(AA)

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(AB)
he has trampled me in the dust.(AC)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”(AD)

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness(AE) and the gall.(AF)
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast(AG) within me.(AH)
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love(AI) we are not consumed,(AJ)
for his compassions never fail.(AK)
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(AL)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(AM)
therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;(AN)
26 it is good to wait quietly(AO)
for the salvation of the Lord.(AP)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence,(AQ)
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(AR)—
there may yet be hope.(AS)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(AT)
and let him be filled with disgrace.(AU)

31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.(AV)
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.(AW)
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.(AX)

34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,(AY)
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?(AZ)

37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?(BA)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?(BB)
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?(BC)

40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(BD)
and let us return to the Lord.(BE)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven,(BF) and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled(BG)
and you have not forgiven.(BH)

43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued(BI) us;
you have slain without pity.(BJ)
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud(BK)
so that no prayer(BL) can get through.(BM)
45 You have made us scum(BN) and refuse
among the nations.

46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide(BO) against us.(BP)
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,(BQ)
ruin and destruction.(BR)”
48 Streams of tears(BS) flow from my eyes(BT)
because my people are destroyed.(BU)

49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,(BV)
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.(BW)
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.

52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.(BX)
53 They tried to end my life in a pit(BY)
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,(BZ)
and I thought I was about to perish.(CA)

55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths(CB) of the pit.(CC)
56 You heard my plea:(CD) “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near(CE) when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”(CF)

58 You, Lord, took up my case;(CG)
you redeemed my life.(CH)
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.(CI)
Uphold my cause!(CJ)
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.(CK)

61 Lord, you have heard their insults,(CL)
all their plots against me—
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.(CM)
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.(CN)

64 Pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
for what their hands have done.(CO)
65 Put a veil over their hearts,(CP)
and may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue(CQ) them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the Lord.

#### Footnotes

1. Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.

#### Cross references

1. Lamentations 3:1 : Jer 15:17-18
2. Lamentations 3:1 : S Job 19:21; Ps 88:7
3. Lamentations 3:2 : S Job 19:8; S Ps 82:5; S Jer 4:23
4. Lamentations 3:3 : Ps 38:2; Isa 5:25
5. Lamentations 3:4 : S Job 30:30; La 4:8
6. Lamentations 3:4 : Ps 51:8; S Isa 38:13; S Jer 50:17
7. Lamentations 3:5 : ver 19
8. Lamentations 3:5 : Jer 23:15
9. Lamentations 3:6 : Ps 88:5-6; 143:3; Isa 59:10
10. Lamentations 3:7 : S Job 3:23
11. Lamentations 3:7 : Jer 40:4
12. Lamentations 3:8 : Ps 5:2
13. Lamentations 3:8 : ver 44; S Dt 1:45; S Job 30:20; Ps 22:2
14. Lamentations 3:9 : S Job 19:8
15. Lamentations 3:9 : S Job 9:24; S Isa 63:17; Hos 2:6
16. Lamentations 3:10 : S Job 10:16
17. Lamentations 3:10 : Hos 13:8; Am 5:18-19
18. Lamentations 3:11 : Hos 6:1
19. Lamentations 3:12 : S La 2:4
20. Lamentations 3:12 : Job 7:20
21. Lamentations 3:12 : S Job 16:12; Ps 7:12-13; 38:2
22. Lamentations 3:13 : S Job 16:13
23. Lamentations 3:13 : Job 6:4
24. Lamentations 3:14 : S Ge 38:23; Ps 22:6-7; Jer 20:7
25. Lamentations 3:14 : S Job 17:2
26. Lamentations 3:14 : S Job 30:9
27. Lamentations 3:15 : ver 19; Jer 9:15
28. Lamentations 3:16 : S Pr 20:17
29. Lamentations 3:16 : S Ps 7:5
30. Lamentations 3:18 : S ver 54; S Job 17:15
31. Lamentations 3:19 : ver 5
32. Lamentations 3:19 : S ver 15
33. Lamentations 3:20 : S Ps 42:5
34. Lamentations 3:20 : Ps 42:11; 43:5
35. Lamentations 3:22 : S Ps 103:11
36. Lamentations 3:22 : S Job 34:15; S Hos 11:9
37. Lamentations 3:22 : Ps 78:38; 130:7
38. Lamentations 3:23 : S Ex 34:6; Zep 3:5
39. Lamentations 3:24 : S Ps 119:57
40. Lamentations 3:25 : S Ps 33:18; Isa 25:9; S 30:18
41. Lamentations 3:26 : S Isa 7:4
42. Lamentations 3:26 : Ps 37:7; 40:1
43. Lamentations 3:28 : Jer 15:17; La 2:10
44. Lamentations 3:29 : S Job 2:8
45. Lamentations 3:29 : S Jer 31:17
46. Lamentations 3:30 : S Job 16:10; S Isa 50:6
47. Lamentations 3:30 : Mic 5:1
48. Lamentations 3:31 : Ps 94:14; Isa 54:7
49. Lamentations 3:32 : Ps 78:38; 106:43-45; Hos 11:8; Na 1:12
50. Lamentations 3:33 : S Job 37:23; S Jer 31:20; Eze 18:23; 33:11
51. Lamentations 3:35 : Ge 14:18, 19, 20, 22
52. Lamentations 3:36 : Ps 140:12; S Pr 17:15; S Jer 22:3; Hab 1:13
53. Lamentations 3:37 : Ps 33:9-11; S Pr 19:21; S 21:30
54. Lamentations 3:38 : S Job 2:10; S Isa 45:7; Jer 32:42
55. Lamentations 3:39 : S Jer 30:15; Mic 7:9
56. Lamentations 3:40 : 2Co 13:5
57. Lamentations 3:40 : Ps 119:59; 139:23-24
58. Lamentations 3:41 : S Ps 25:1; S 28:2
59. Lamentations 3:42 : Jer 14:20; Da 9:5
60. Lamentations 3:42 : S 2Ki 24:4; Jer 5:7-9
61. Lamentations 3:43 : ver 66; Ps 35:6
62. Lamentations 3:43 : S La 2:2, 17, 21
63. Lamentations 3:44 : Ps 97:2; La 2:1
64. Lamentations 3:44 : S ver 8; Zec 7:13
65. Lamentations 3:44 : S Isa 58:4
66. Lamentations 3:45 : 1Co 4:13
67. Lamentations 3:46 : Ps 22:13
68. Lamentations 3:46 : La 2:16
69. Lamentations 3:47 : Jer 48:43
70. Lamentations 3:47 : S Isa 24:17-18; S 51:19
71. Lamentations 3:48 : S Ps 119:136
72. Lamentations 3:48 : S Jer 9:1, 18; La 1:16
73. Lamentations 3:48 : La 2:11
74. Lamentations 3:49 : Jer 14:17; S La 2:18
75. Lamentations 3:50 : S Ps 14:2; 80:14; S Isa 63:15
76. Lamentations 3:52 : Ps 35:7
77. Lamentations 3:53 : Jer 37:16; S 38:6
78. Lamentations 3:54 : Ps 69:2; Jnh 2:3-5
79. Lamentations 3:54 : ver 18; Ps 88:5; Eze 37:11
80. Lamentations 3:55 : S Ps 88:6
81. Lamentations 3:55 : Ps 130:1; Jnh 2:2
82. Lamentations 3:56 : S Ps 55:1; 116:1-2
83. Lamentations 3:57 : S Ps 46:1
84. Lamentations 3:57 : Isa 41:10
85. Lamentations 3:58 : S Jer 51:36
86. Lamentations 3:58 : Ps 34:22; S Jer 50:34
87. Lamentations 3:59 : Jer 18:19-20
88. Lamentations 3:59 : Ps 35:23; 43:1
89. Lamentations 3:60 : S Jer 11:20; 18:18
90. Lamentations 3:61 : Ps 89:50; Zep 2:8
91. Lamentations 3:62 : Eze 36:3
92. Lamentations 3:63 : S Job 30:9
93. Lamentations 3:64 : S Ps 28:4; S Jer 51:6
94. Lamentations 3:65 : Ex 14:8; Dt 2:30; Isa 6:10
95. Lamentations 3:66 : S ver 43

New International Version (NIV)

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