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From the Blue Letter Bible
Revised Standard Version
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| I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; | |
| he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; | |
| surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. | |
| He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones; | |
| he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; | |
| he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. | |
| He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me; | |
| though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; | |
| he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked. | |
| He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding; | |
| he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; | |
| he bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow. | |
| He drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver; | |
| I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long. | |
| He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood. | |
| He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; | |
| my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; | |
| so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD." | |
| Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall! | |
| My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. | |
| But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: | |
| The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; | |
| they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. | |
| "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." | |
| The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. | |
| It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. | |
| It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. | |
| Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him; | |
| let him put his mouth in the dust-- there may yet be hope; | |
| let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. | |
| For the Lord will not cast off for ever, | |
| but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; | |
| for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men. | |
| To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, | |
| to turn aside the right of a man in the presence of the Most High, | |
| to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve. | |
| Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? | |
| Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come? | |
| Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? | |
| Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! | |
| Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: | |
| "We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven. | |
| "Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us, slaying without pity; | |
| thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. | |
| Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse among the peoples. | |
| "All our enemies rail against us; | |
| panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; | |
| my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. | |
| "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, | |
| until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees; | |
| my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens of my city. | |
| "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; | |
| they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; | |
| water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost.' | |
| "I called on thy name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; | |
| thou didst hear my plea, 'Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!' | |
| Thou didst come near when I called on thee; thou didst say, 'Do not fear!' | |
| "Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life. | |
| Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge thou my cause. | |
| Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me. | |
| "Thou hast heard their taunts, O LORD, all their devices against me. | |
| The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long. | |
| Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the burden of their songs. | |
| "Thou wilt requite them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. | |
| Thou wilt give them dullness of heart; thy curse will be on them. | |
| Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them from under thy heavens, O LORD." |
| Lamentations 3 | ||
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Downloaded from the Oxford Text Archive and used with permission. The following header is required to be posted:
Source:
Transcribed from: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version containing the Old and New Testaments, translated from the original tongues: being the version set forth A.D. 1611, revised A.D. 1881-1885 and A.D. 1901: compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1946-52. — 2nd ed. of New Testament A.D. 1971. There should be enough in the rest of the description to identify the text.
Language:
English
Availability:
Freely available for non-commercial use provided that this header is included in its entirety with any copy distributed.
