Lamentations 3:34-66 ▼

34 crush any prisoner on earth underfoot,

35 deny people their rights in the presence of the Most High God,

36 or deprive people of justice in court. The Lord isn't happy to see [these things].

37 Who was it who spoke and it came into being? It was the Lord who gave the order.

38 Both good and bad come from the mouth of the Most High God.

39 |Why should any living mortal (any person) complain about being punished for sin?

40 Let us look closely at our ways and examine them and then return to the LORD.

41 Let us raise our hearts and hands to God in heaven.

42 |We have been disobedient and rebellious. You haven't forgiven us.

43 You covered yourself with anger and pursued us. You killed without pity.

44 You covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer could get through it.

45 You made us the scum and trash of the nations.

46 All our enemies gawk at us.

47 Panic and pitfalls have found us, so have devastation and destruction.

48 |Streams of tears run down from my eyes over the ruin of my dear people.

49 My eyes will keep flowing without stopping for a moment

50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

51 What I see with my eyes disturbs me deeply because of all the young women in my city.

52 |Those who were my enemies for no reason hunted me like a bird.

53 They threw me alive into a pit and threw rocks at me.

54 Water flowed over my head. I thought I was finished.

55 |I call your name from the deepest pit, O LORD.

56 Listen to my cry [for help]. Don't close your ears when I cry out for relief.

57 Be close at hand when I call to you. You told me not to be afraid.

58 Plead my case for me, O LORD. Reclaim my life.

59 Look at the wrong that has been done to me, O LORD. Give me a fair verdict.

60 Look at all their malice, all their plots against me.

61 Listen to their insults, all their plots against me.

62 The words and thoughts of those who attack me are directed against me all day long.

63 Look at them! Whether they are sitting or standing, they make fun of me in their songs.

64 Pay them back, O LORD, for what they deserve, for what their own hands have done.

65 Make them stubborn. Let your curse be on them.

66 Pursue them in anger, and wipe them out from under the LORD's heaven.|