Parallel Bible results for "lamentations 3"

Lamentations 3

New Living Translation NLT

1 I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD ’s anger.

2 He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light.

3 He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress.

6 He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead.

7 He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains.

8 And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers.

9 He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked.

10 He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me.

11 He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated.

12 He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows.

13 He shot his arrows deep into my heart.

14 My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs.

15 He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.

16 He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust.

17 Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18 I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!”

19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.

20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.

21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

22 The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease.

23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

25 The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.

26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD .

27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline:

28 Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD ’s demands.

29 Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.

30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.

31 For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.

32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.

33 For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.

34 If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,

35 if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High,

36 if they twist justice in the courts— doesn’t the Lord see all these things?

37 Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission?

38 Does not the Most High send both calamity and good?

39 Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?

40 Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD .

41 Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say,

42 “We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us.

43 “You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy.

44 You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you.

45 You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations.

46 “All our enemies have spoken out against us.

47 We are filled with fear, for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.”

48 Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people!

49 My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop

50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

51 My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.

52 My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird.

53 They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me.

54 The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!”

55 But I called on your name, LORD, from deep within the pit.

56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!”

57 Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.”

58 Lord, you are my lawyer! Plead my case! For you have redeemed my life.

59 You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD . Be my judge, and prove me right.

60 You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me.

61 LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me. You know all about the plans they have made.

62 My enemies whisper and mutter as they plot against me all day long.

63 Look at them! Whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs.

64 Pay them back, LORD, for all the evil they have done.

65 Give them hard and stubborn hearts, and then let your curse fall on them!

66 Chase them down in your anger, destroying them beneath the LORD ’s heavens.

The Message Bible MSG

1 I'm the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of God's anger.

2 He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness.

3 Yes, he's given me the back of his hand over and over and over again.

4 He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones.

5 He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times.

6 He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.

7 He shuts me in so I'll never get out, manacles my hands, shackles my feet.

8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.

9 He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. He's got me cornered.

10 He's a prowling bear tracking me down, a lion in hiding ready to pounce.

11 He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces. When he finished, there was nothing left of me.

12 He took out his bow and arrows and used me for target practice.

13 He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver.

14 Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads.

15 He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks.

16 He ground my face into the gravel. He pounded me into the mud.

17 I gave up on life altogether. I've forgotten what the good life is like.

18 I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished. God is a lost cause." It's a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God

19 I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.

20 I remember it all - oh, how well I remember - the feeling of hitting the bottom.

21 But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

22 God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.

23 They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!

24 I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.

25 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.

26 It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.

27 It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.

28 When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.

29 Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.

30 Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.

31 Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return.

32 If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.

33 He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way:

34 Stomping down hard on luckless prisoners,

35 Refusing justice to victims in the court of High God,

36 Tampering with evidence - the Master does not approve of such things. God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being

37 Who do you think "spoke and it happened"? It's the Master who gives such orders.

38 Doesn't the High God speak everything, good things and hard things alike, into being?

39 And why would anyone gifted with life complain when punished for sin?

40 Let's take a good look at the way we're living and reorder our lives under God.

41 Let's lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time, praying to God in heaven:

42 "We've been contrary and willful, and you haven't forgiven.

43 "You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back. You chased us and cut us down without mercy.

44 You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds so no prayers could get through.

45 You treated us like dirty dishwater, threw us out in the backyard of the nations.

46 "Our enemies shout abuse, their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.

47 We've been to hell and back. We've nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.

48 Rivers of tears pour from my eyes at the smashup of my dear people.

49 "The tears stream from my eyes, an artesian well of tears,

50 Until you, God, look down from on high, look and see my tears.

51 When I see what's happened to the young women in the city, the pain breaks my heart.

52 "Enemies with no reason to be enemies hunted me down like a bird.

53 They threw me into a pit, then pelted me with stones.

54 Then the rains came and filled the pit. The water rose over my head. I said, 'It's all over.'

55 "I called out your name, O God, called from the bottom of the pit.

56 You listened when I called out, 'Don't shut your ears! Get me out of here! Save me!'

57 You came close when I called out. You said, 'It's going to be all right.'

58 "You took my side, Master; you brought me back alive!

59 God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me. Give me my day in court!

60 Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes, their plots to destroy me.

61 "You heard, God, their vicious gossip, their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.

62 They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief, hatching out malice, day after day after day.

63 Sitting down or standing up - just look at them! - they mock me with vulgar doggerel.

64 "Make them pay for what they've done, God. Give them their just deserts.

65 Break their miserable hearts! Damn their eyes!

66 Get good and angry. Hunt them down. Make a total demolition here under your heaven!"