Lamentations 3 – read and compare multiple versions
Lamentations 3
[1] I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath.
[2] He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness,
and not in light.
[3] Surely he turns his hand against me
again and again all day long. [4] He has made my flesh and my skin old.
He has broken my bones.
[5] He has built against me,
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
[6] He has made me dwell in dark places,
as those who have been long dead. [7] He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out.
He has made my chain heavy.
[8] Yes, when I cry, and call for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
[9] He has walled up my ways with cut stone.
He has made my paths crooked. [10] He is to me as a bear lying in wait,
as a lion in hiding.
[11] He has turned away my path,
and pulled me in pieces.
He has made me desolate.
[12] He has bent his bow,
and set me as a mark for the arrow. [13] He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
[14] I have become a derision to all my people,
and their song all day long.
[15] He has filled me with bitterness.
He has stuffed me with wormwood. [16] He has also broken my teeth with gravel.
He has covered me with ashes.
[17] You have removed my soul far away from peace.
I forgot prosperity.
[18] I said, “My strength has perished,
along with my expectation from Yahweh.” [19] Remember my affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the bitterness.
[20] My soul still remembers them,
and is bowed down within me.
[21] This I recall to my mind;
therefore I have hope. [22] It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed,
because his mercies don’t fail.
[23] They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
[24] “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul.
“Therefore I will hope in him.” [25] Yahweh is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
[26] It is good that a man should hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
[27] It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. [28] Let him sit alone and keep silence,
because he has laid it on him.
[29] Let him put his mouth in the dust,
if it is so that there may be hope.
[30] Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him.
Let him be filled full of reproach. [31] For the Lord will not cast off forever.
[32] For though he causes grief,
yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
[33] For he does not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men. [34] To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
[35] to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
[36] to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve. [37] Who is he who says, and it comes to pass,
when the Lord doesn’t command it?
[38] Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
[39] Why should a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins? [40] Let us search and try our ways,
and turn again to Yahweh.
[41] Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
[42] “We have transgressed and have rebelled.
You have not pardoned. [43] “You have covered us with anger and pursued us.
You have killed.
You have not pitied.
[44] You have covered yourself with a cloud,
so that no prayer can pass through.
[45] You have made us an off-scouring and refuse
in the middle of the peoples. [46] “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
[47] Terror and the pit have come on us,
devastation and destruction.” [48] My eye runs down with streams of water,
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[49] My eye pours down
and doesn’t cease,
without any intermission,
[50] until Yahweh looks down,
and sees from heaven.
[51] My eye affects my soul,
because of all the daughters of my city. [52] They have chased me relentlessly like a bird,
those who are my enemies without cause.
[53] They have cut off my life in the dungeon,
and have cast a stone on me.
[54] Waters flowed over my head.
I said, “I am cut off.” [55] I called on your name, Yahweh,
out of the lowest dungeon.
[56] You heard my voice:
“Don’t hide your ear from my sighing,
and my cry.” [57] You came near in the day that I called on you.
You said, “Don’t be afraid.” [58] Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul.
You have redeemed my life.
[59] Yahweh, you have seen my wrong.
Judge my cause.
[60] You have seen all their vengeance
and all their plans against me. [61] You have heard their reproach, Yahweh,
and all their plans against me,
[62] the lips of those that rose up against me,
and their plots against me all day long.
[63] You see their sitting down and their rising up.
I am their song. [64] You will pay them back, Yahweh,
according to the work of their hands.
[65] You will give them hardness of heart,
your curse to them.
[66] You will pursue them in anger,
and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.
by the rod of his wrath.
[2] He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness,
and not in light.
[3] Surely he turns his hand against me
again and again all day long. [4] He has made my flesh and my skin old.
He has broken my bones.
[5] He has built against me,
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
[6] He has made me dwell in dark places,
as those who have been long dead. [7] He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out.
He has made my chain heavy.
[8] Yes, when I cry, and call for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
[9] He has walled up my ways with cut stone.
He has made my paths crooked. [10] He is to me as a bear lying in wait,
as a lion in hiding.
[11] He has turned away my path,
and pulled me in pieces.
He has made me desolate.
[12] He has bent his bow,
and set me as a mark for the arrow. [13] He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
[14] I have become a derision to all my people,
and their song all day long.
[15] He has filled me with bitterness.
He has stuffed me with wormwood. [16] He has also broken my teeth with gravel.
He has covered me with ashes.
[17] You have removed my soul far away from peace.
I forgot prosperity.
[18] I said, “My strength has perished,
along with my expectation from Yahweh.” [19] Remember my affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the bitterness.
[20] My soul still remembers them,
and is bowed down within me.
[21] This I recall to my mind;
therefore I have hope. [22] It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed,
because his mercies don’t fail.
[23] They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
[24] “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul.
“Therefore I will hope in him.” [25] Yahweh is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
[26] It is good that a man should hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
[27] It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. [28] Let him sit alone and keep silence,
because he has laid it on him.
[29] Let him put his mouth in the dust,
if it is so that there may be hope.
[30] Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him.
Let him be filled full of reproach. [31] For the Lord will not cast off forever.
[32] For though he causes grief,
yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
[33] For he does not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men. [34] To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
[35] to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
[36] to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve. [37] Who is he who says, and it comes to pass,
when the Lord doesn’t command it?
[38] Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
[39] Why should a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins? [40] Let us search and try our ways,
and turn again to Yahweh.
[41] Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
[42] “We have transgressed and have rebelled.
You have not pardoned. [43] “You have covered us with anger and pursued us.
You have killed.
You have not pitied.
[44] You have covered yourself with a cloud,
so that no prayer can pass through.
[45] You have made us an off-scouring and refuse
in the middle of the peoples. [46] “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
[47] Terror and the pit have come on us,
devastation and destruction.” [48] My eye runs down with streams of water,
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[49] My eye pours down
and doesn’t cease,
without any intermission,
[50] until Yahweh looks down,
and sees from heaven.
[51] My eye affects my soul,
because of all the daughters of my city. [52] They have chased me relentlessly like a bird,
those who are my enemies without cause.
[53] They have cut off my life in the dungeon,
and have cast a stone on me.
[54] Waters flowed over my head.
I said, “I am cut off.” [55] I called on your name, Yahweh,
out of the lowest dungeon.
[56] You heard my voice:
“Don’t hide your ear from my sighing,
and my cry.” [57] You came near in the day that I called on you.
You said, “Don’t be afraid.” [58] Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul.
You have redeemed my life.
[59] Yahweh, you have seen my wrong.
Judge my cause.
[60] You have seen all their vengeance
and all their plans against me. [61] You have heard their reproach, Yahweh,
and all their plans against me,
[62] the lips of those that rose up against me,
and their plots against me all day long.
[63] You see their sitting down and their rising up.
I am their song. [64] You will pay them back, Yahweh,
according to the work of their hands.
[65] You will give them hardness of heart,
your curse to them.
[66] You will pursue them in anger,
and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.