Old Testament · Prophets

Lamentations chapter 3

I am who has seen suffering under the rod of his fury.He drove me out and made me walk in .Again and again, all day long, he turns his hand against me.He has and skin; he has shattered my bones.He has me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.He has made me live in like those who died long ago.He has so I can’t escape; he has weighed me down with chains.Even when I cry out and beg for help, he .He has blocked my paths with ; he has twisted my roads into dead ends.He is a lying in ambush for me, a hiding in the shadows.He dragged me off my path and tore me apart; he left me in ruins.He drew his bow and made me the .He drove the arrows from his quiver deep into my .I’ve become a laughingstock to all my people, the target of their all day.He has filled me with bitterness, drenched me in .He ; he pressed my face into the dust.I have been robbed of ; I’ve forgotten what good feels like.So I said, “My is gone, along with any hope I had from Yahweh.”Remember my suffering and my wandering— the wormwood and the .I remember it all too well, and my inside me.But this I , and because of this I still have hope:The of Yahweh never runs out; his never come to an end.They are — how great is your !“Yahweh is ,” says my soul, “and so I will put my hope in him.”Yahweh is good to those who , to the soul that searches for him.It is good to wait in stillness for Yahweh’s .It is good for a person to carry a while young.Let him sit alone in silence when God has laid it on him.Let him — there may still be hope.Let him to the one who strikes him; let him be filled to the brim with disgrace.Because the Lord does not reject anyone forever.Even if he causes grief, he will show — so great is the depth of his .Because he causing people grief or pain.When anyone crushes underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,when anyone denies justice to a person right in front of the ,when anyone cheats someone in a legal dispute— does the Lord not see all this?Who can speak and make it happen if the Lord hasn’t ordered it?Don’t both disaster and good come from the mouth of the Most High?Why should any living person complain when they’re being for their rebellions?Let us examine our ways and test them, and to Yahweh.Let us to God in the heavens:“We—we have you, and you have not forgiven.You wrapped yourself in anger and hunted us down; you slaughtered without mercy.You so that no prayer could reach you.You’ve made us among the nations.All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.What we got was terror and the trap, devastation and destruction.Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of .My eyes pour out tears without stopping— no break, no relief—until Yahweh looks down and sees from the heavens.What I see brings grief to my soul— all the .My enemies hunted me relentlessly — for no reason at all.They threw me alive into a and hurled stones on top of me.Water closed over my head; I said, “.”I , Yahweh, from the deepest pit.You heard my voice. Do not close your ear to my cry for relief, to my cry for help.You came close when I called to you; you said, “.”You, Lord, ; you my life.Yahweh, you have seen the wrong done to me. Now judge my case.You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.Yahweh, you have heard their insults— all their plots against me.The whispers and murmurs of my attackers are against me all day long.Watch them—sitting down or standing up— I am the subject of their ., Yahweh, for what their hands have done.Give them a ; let your curse fall on them.Hunt them down in anger and destroy them .