Lamentations 3:1-36

1I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.

2He has driven me away and forced me to walk in darkness instead of light.

3Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand against me all day long.

4He has worn away my flesh and skin; he has broken my bones.

5He has laid siege against me, encircling me with bitterness and hardship.

6He has made me dwell in darkness like those who have been dead for ages.

7He has walled me in so I cannot get out; he has weighed me down with chains.

8Even when I cry out and plead for help, he blocks out my prayer.

9He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.

10He is a bear waiting in ambush, a lion in hiding.

11He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces; he left me desolate.

12He strung his bow and set me as the target for his arrow.

13He pierced my kidneys with shafts from his quiver.

14I am a laughingstock to all my people, mocked by their songs all day long.

15He filled me with bitterness, satiated me with wormwood.

16He ground my teeth with gravel and made me cower in the dust.

17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18Then I thought, “My future is lost, as well as my hope from the Lord.”

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

20I continually remember them and have become depressed.

21Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end.

23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!

24I say, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him.”

25The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him.

26It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.

27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.

28Let him sit alone and be silent, for God has disciplined him.

29Let him put his mouth in the dust  — perhaps there is still hope.

30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with disgrace.

31For the Lord will not reject us forever.

32Even if he causes suffering, he will show compassion according to the abundance of his faithful love.

33For he does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind.

34Crushing all the prisoners of the land beneath one’s feet,

35denying justice to a man in the presence of the Most High,

36or subverting a person in his lawsuit  — the Lord does not approve of these things.