Lamentations 3
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| I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath. |
| By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light. |
| Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day. |
| My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken. |
| He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow. |
| He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead. |
| He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain. |
| Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out. |
| He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted. |
| He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places. |
| By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste. |
| With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows. |
| He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body. |
| I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day. |
| He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure. |
| By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust. |
| My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good. |
| And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord. |
| Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison. |
| My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me. |
| This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope. |
| It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit. |
| They are new every morning; great is your good faith. |
| I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him. |
| The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him. |
| It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord. |
| It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young. |
| Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him. |
| Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope. |
| Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame. |
| For the Lord does not give a man up for ever. |
| For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love. |
| For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men. |
| In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, |
| In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High. |
| In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure. |
| Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord? |
| Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High? |
| What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin? |
| Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord; |
| Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens. |
| We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness. |
| Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity; |
| Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through. |
| You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples. |
| The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us. |
| Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction. |
| Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
| My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest, |
| Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven. |
| The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town. |
| They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird; |
| They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones. |
| Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off. |
| I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison. |
| My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry. |
| You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear. |
| O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe. |
| O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause. |
| You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me. |
| Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me; |
| The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day. |
| Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song. |
| You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands. |
| You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them. |
| You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord. |
