Lamentations 3:1-23 ▼

1 O MIGHTY God, see my affliction; I am chastised by the rod of his wrath.

2 He has led me, but I walked in darkness and not in light.

3 But surely is he turned against me, he turns his hand against me all the day.

4 My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones.

5 He has built ramparts against me, and compassed me with bitterness and travail.

6 He has made me to dwell in darkness, like a dead man for ever.

7 He has hedged me about, that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy.

8 Though I beseech and pray, he does not hearken to my prayer.

9 He has enclosed my ways with thorns, he has made my paths crooked.

10 He has been to me as a wolf lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.

11 He has made my ways crooked, and cut me to pieces; he has made me desolate.

12 He has bent his bow, and set me up as a mark for the arrow.

13 Behold, he has caused his arrows to enter into my reins.

14 I have become the ridicule of all nations; and their scoffing song all the day.

15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunken with wormwood.

16 He has broken my teeth with a stone, he has covered me with ashes.

17 My soul has gone astray from peace, I have forgotten prosperity.

18 And I said, My fame and my hope are perished from the LORD.

19 Remember my affliction and my chastisement, the bitterness and the sorrow.

20 Remember and restore my life.

21 This I recall to mind; therefore I have hope in God.

22 Surely the kindness of the LORD never ceases and his mercies never fail.

23 They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.