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Lamentations 3 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Hope in the LORD’s Faithfulness
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:1 - I am the one who has seen the afflictions
that come from the rod of the LORD’s anger.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:2 - He has led me into darkness,
shutting out all light.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:3 - He has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:4 - He has made my skin and flesh grow old.
He has broken my bones.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:5 - He has besieged and surrounded me
with anguish and distress.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:6 - He has buried me in a dark place,
like those long dead.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:7 - He has walled me in, and I cannot escape.
He has bound me in heavy chains.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:8 - And though I cry and shout,
he has shut out my prayers.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:9 - He has blocked my way with a high stone wall;
he has made my road crooked.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:10 - He has hidden like a bear or a lion,
waiting to attack me.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:11 - He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces,
leaving me helpless and devastated.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:12 - He has drawn his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:13 - He shot his arrows
deep into my heart.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:14 - My own people laugh at me.
All day long they sing their mocking songs.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:15 - He has filled me with bitterness
and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:16 - He has made me chew on gravel.
He has rolled me in the dust.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:17 - Peace has been stripped away,
and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:18 - I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:19 - The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:20 - I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:21 - Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:22 - The faithful love of the LORD never ends![fn]
His mercies never cease.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:23 - Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:24 - I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:25 - The LORD is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:26 - So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the LORD.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:27 - And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:28 - Let them sit alone in silence
beneath the LORD’s demands.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:29 - Let them lie face down in the dust,
for there may be hope at last.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:30 - Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
and accept the insults of their enemies.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:31 - For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:32 - Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:33 - For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:34 - If people crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the land,
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:35 - if they deprive others of their rights
in defiance of the Most High,
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:36 - if they twist justice in the courts—
doesn’t the Lord see all these things?
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:37 - Who can command things to happen
without the Lord’s permission?
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:38 - Does not the Most High
send both calamity and good?
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:39 - Then why should we, mere humans, complain
when we are punished for our sins?
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:40 - Instead, let us test and examine our ways.
Let us turn back to the LORD.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:41 - Let us lift our hearts and hands
to God in heaven and say,
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:42 - “We have sinned and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven us.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:43 - “You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down,
and slaughtered us without mercy.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:44 - You have hidden yourself in a cloud
so our prayers cannot reach you.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:45 - You have discarded us as refuse and garbage
among the nations.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:46 - “All our enemies
have spoken out against us.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:47 - We are filled with fear,
for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:48 - Tears stream from my eyes
because of the destruction of my people!
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:49 - My tears flow endlessly;
they will not stop
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:50 - until the LORD looks down
from heaven and sees.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:51 - My heart is breaking
over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:52 - My enemies, whom I have never harmed,
hunted me down like a bird.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:53 - They threw me into a pit
and dropped stones on me.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:54 - The water rose over my head,
and I cried out, “This is the end!”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:55 - But I called on your name, LORD,
from deep within the pit.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:56 - You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!
Hear my cry for help!”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:57 - Yes, you came when I called;
you told me, “Do not fear.”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:58 - Lord, you are my lawyer! Plead my case!
For you have redeemed my life.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:59 - You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD.
Be my judge, and prove me right.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:60 - You have seen the vengeful plots
my enemies have laid against me.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:61 - LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me.
You know all about the plans they have made.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:62 - My enemies whisper and mutter
as they plot against me all day long.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:63 - Look at them! Whether they sit or stand,
I am the object of their mocking songs.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:64 - Pay them back, LORD,
for all the evil they have done.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:65 - Give them hard and stubborn hearts,
and then let your curse fall on them!
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 3:66 - Chase them down in your anger,
destroying them beneath the LORD’s heavens.
NLT Footnotes
Or is wormwood and gall.
As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads of the LORD keeps us from destruction.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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