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Revised Standard Version |
Lamentations - Chapter 3 |
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   | Lam 3:1 | I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; |
| Lam 3:2 | he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; |
| Lam 3:3 | surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. |
| Lam 3:4 | He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones; |
| Lam 3:5 | he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; |
| Lam 3:6 | he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. |
| Lam 3:7 | He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me; |
| Lam 3:8 | though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; |
| Lam 3:9 | he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked. |
| Lam 3:10 | He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding; |
| Lam 3:11 | he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; |
| Lam 3:12 | he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow. |
| Lam 3:13 | He drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver; |
| Lam 3:14 | I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long. |
| Lam 3:15 | He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood. |
| Lam 3:16 | He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; |
| Lam 3:17 | my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; |
| Lam 3:18 | so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD." |
| Lam 3:19 | Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall! |
| Lam 3:20 | My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. |
| Lam 3:21 | But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: |
| Lam 3:22 | The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; |
| Lam 3:23 | they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. |
| Lam 3:24 | "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." |
| Lam 3:25 | The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. |
| Lam 3:26 | It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. |
| Lam 3:27 | It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. |
| Lam 3:28 | Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him; |
| Lam 3:29 | let him put his mouth in the dust-- there may yet be hope; |
| Lam 3:30 | let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. |
| Lam 3:31 | For the Lord will not cast off for ever, |
| Lam 3:32 | but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; |
| Lam 3:33 | for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men. |
| Lam 3:34 | To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, |
| Lam 3:35 | to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High, |
| Lam 3:36 | to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve. |
| Lam 3:37 | Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? |
| Lam 3:38 | Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come? |
| Lam 3:39 | Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? |
| Lam 3:40 | Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! |
| Lam 3:41 | Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: |
| Lam 3:42 | "We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven. |
| Lam 3:43 | "Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity; |
| Lam 3:44 | thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. |
| Lam 3:45 | Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples. |
| Lam 3:46 | "All our enemies rail against us; |
| Lam 3:47 | panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; |
| Lam 3:48 | my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
| Lam 3:49 | "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, |
| Lam 3:50 | until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees; |
| Lam 3:51 | my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city. |
| Lam 3:52 | "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; |
| Lam 3:53 | they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; |
| Lam 3:54 | water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost.' |
| Lam 3:55 | "I called on thy name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; |
| Lam 3:56 | thou didst hear my plea, 'Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!' |
| Lam 3:57 | Thou didst come near when I called on thee; thou didst say, 'Do not fear!' |
| Lam 3:58 | "Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life. |
| Lam 3:59 | Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge thou my cause. |
| Lam 3:60 | Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me. |
| Lam 3:61 | "Thou hast heard their taunts, O LORD, all their devices against me. |
| Lam 3:62 | The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long. |
| Lam 3:63 | Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the burden of their songs. |
| Lam 3:64 | "Thou wilt requite them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. |
| Lam 3:65 | Thou wilt give them dullness of heart; thy curse will be on them. |
| Lam 3:66 | Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them from under thy heavens, O LORD." |
