Lamentations 3 (English Standard Version)

Great Is Your Faithfulness

1 ¹I am the man who has seen affliction under the ²rod of his wrath; 2 he has driven and brought me ³into darkness without any light; 3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; ⁴he has broken my bones; 5 ⁵he has besieged and enveloped me with ⁶bitterness and tribulation; 6 ⁷he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. 7 ⁸He has walled me about so that ⁹I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; 8 though ¹⁰I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; 9 ¹¹he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. 10 ¹²He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; 11 ¹³he turned aside my steps and ¹⁴tore me to pieces; ¹⁵he has made me desolate; 12 ¹⁶he bent his bow ¹⁷and set me as a target for his arrow. 13 He drove into my kidneys ¹⁸the arrows of his quiver; 14 ¹⁹I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, ²⁰the object of their taunts all day long. 15 ²¹He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with ²²wormwood. 16 ²³He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and ²⁴made me cower in ashes; 17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness^a is; 18 ²⁵so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD." 19 ²⁶Remember my affliction and my wanderings, ²⁷the wormwood and ²⁸the gall! 20 My soul continually remembers it ²⁹and is bowed down within me. 21 But this I call to mind, and ³⁰therefore I have hope: 22 ³¹The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;^{b 32}his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new ³³every morning; ³⁴great is your faithfulness. 24 ³⁵"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, ³⁶"therefore I will hope in him." 25 The LORD is good to those who ³⁷wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26 ³⁸It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. 27 ³⁹It is good for a man that he bear the yoke ⁴⁰in his youth. 28 Let him ⁴¹sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; 29 ⁴²let him put his mouth in the dust-- there may yet be hope; 30 ⁴³let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. 31 ⁴⁴For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though he ⁴⁵cause grief, ⁴⁶he will have compassion ⁴⁷according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 ⁴⁸for he does not willingly afflict or ⁴⁹grieve the children of men. 34 To crush underfoot all ⁵⁰the prisoners of the earth, 35 ⁵¹to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, 36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit, ⁵²the Lord does not approve. 37 ⁵³Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 38 ⁵⁴Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? 39 ⁵⁵Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? 40 Let us test and examine our ways, ⁵⁶and return to the LORD! 41 ⁵⁷Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: 42 ⁵⁸"We have transgressed and ⁵⁹rebelled, and you have not forgiven. 43 "You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, ⁶⁰killing without pity; 44 ⁶¹you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. 45 ⁶²You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples. 46 ⁶³"All our enemies open their mouths against us; 47 ⁶⁴panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and ⁶⁵destruction; 48 ⁶⁶my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 ⁶⁷"My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, 50 ⁶⁸until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees; 51 my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city. 52 ⁶⁹"I have been hunted ⁷⁰like a bird by those who were my enemies ⁷¹without cause; 53 ⁷²they flung me alive into the pit ⁷³and cast stones on me; 54 ⁷⁴water closed over my head; I said, ⁷⁵'I am lost.' 55 ⁷⁶"I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; 56 ⁷⁷you heard my plea, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help!' 57 ⁷⁸You came near when I called on you; you said, ⁷⁹'Do not fear!' 58 "You have ⁸⁰taken up my cause, ⁸¹O Lord; you have ⁸²redeemed my life. 59 You have seen the wrong done to me, ⁸³O LORD; judge my cause. 60 You have seen all their vengeance, all ⁸⁴their plots against me. 61 ⁸⁵"You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all ⁸⁶their plots against me. 62 The lips and thoughts ⁸⁷of my assailants are against me all the day long. 63 ⁸⁸Behold their sitting and their rising; ⁸⁹I am the object of their taunts. 64 ⁹⁰"You will repay them,^c O LORD, ⁹¹according to the work of their hands. 65 You will give them^d dullness of heart; your curse will be^e on them. 66 You will pursue them^f in anger and ⁹²destroy them from under ⁹³your heavens, O LORD."^g