Lamentations 3:1-13 ▼

1 I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath;

2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;

3 against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;

5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;

6 he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.

7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;

8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;

9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.

10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;

11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;

12 he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.

13 He shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver;