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 bitterness and hardship.

6 In dark places He has made me dwell, 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 hewn 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 [mocking] song all the day.

15 He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk 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 happiness.

18 So I say, |My strength has perished, And [so has] my hope from the LORD.|

19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.

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

21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.