Lamentations 3
3
Hope through God’s Mercy
א Aleph
1I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath.
2He has driven me away and forced me to walk
in darkness instead of light.#Jb 12:25; Am 5:18,20
3Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand
against me all day long.
ב Beth
4He has worn away my flesh and skin;#Jb 13:28; Ps 32:3; 38:3; 49:14; Mc 3:1–3
he has broken my bones.#Ps 51:8; Is 38:13
5He has laid siege against me,#Jb 19:8,12
encircling me with bitterness and hardship.#Lm 3:19
6He has made me dwell in darkness
like those who have been dead for ages.#Jb 10:20–22; Ps 88:6; 143:3
ג Gimel
7He has walled me in so I cannot get out;#Jb 19:8
he has weighed me down with chains.
8Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he blocks out my prayer.#Jb 30:20; Ps 22:2; Is 59:2; Lm 3:44
9He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone;#Jb 13:27; 23:12; Is 63:17; Hs 2:6
he has made my paths crooked.#Jb 19:8; Ps 23:3; Pr 2:15; 3:6,17; 4:11
ד Daleth
10He is#3:10 Lit is to me a bear waiting in ambush,
a lion in hiding.#Hs 13:7–8
11He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he left me desolate.
12He strung his bow#Ps 7:12; Lm 2:4
and set me as the target for his arrow.
ה He
13He pierced my kidneys
with shafts from his quiver.#Jb 16:13; Pr 7:23
14I am a laughingstock#Jb 12:4; Jr 20:7; Lm 1:7 to all my people,#3:14 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss, Syr read all peoples
mocked by their songs#Jb 30:9; Ps 69:12 all day long.
15He filled me with bitterness,
satiated me with wormwood.#Jr 9:15; 23:15
ו Waw
16He ground my teeth with gravel#Ps 3:7; 58:6; Pr 20:17
and made me cower#3:16 Or and trampled me in the dust.
17I have been deprived#3:17 Syr, Vg; MT reads You deprived my soul of peace;#Ps 88:15; Lm 3:31
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18Then I thought, “My future#3:18 Or splendor is lost,
as well as my hope from the Lord.”
ז Zayin
19Remember#3:19 Or I remember my affliction and my homelessness,#Is 58:7; Lm 1:7
the wormwood and the poison.#Dt 29:18; Jr 9:15; 23:15
20I continually remember them
and have become depressed.#3:20 Alt Hb tradition reads and you cause me to collapse#Ps 42:5–6,11; 43:5; 44:25
21Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:#Jb 13:15; Ps 33:22; 71:14; 130:5; Mc 7:7
ח Cheth
22Because of the Lord’s faithful love#Ps 89:1; 103:17; Is 63:7
we do not perish,#3:22 One Hb mss, Syr, Tg read The Lord’s faithful love, indeed, does not perish
for his mercies never end.
23They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness!#Ps 36:5; 89:1–8; 100:5
24I say, “The Lord is my portion,#Nm 18:20; Ps 73:26; 142:5; Jr 10:16
therefore I will put my hope in him.”
ט Teth
25The Lord is good to those who wait#Ps 25:3; Is 40:31; 49:23 for him,
to the person who seeks him.
26It is good to wait quietly#Ps 37:7; 130:5,7; 1Th 5:10; 2Tm 4:8; 2Pt 3:14
for salvation from the Lord.#Ps 37:39; 119:81; Is 46:13
27It is good for a man to bear the yoke#Jr 27:11; Lm 1:14
while he is still young.
י Yod
28Let him sit alone and be silent,#Jr 15:17
for God has disciplined#3:28 Lit has laid a burden on him.
29Let him put his mouth in the dust#Nm 22:31; Jos 7:6; 1Sm 25:23 —
perhaps there is still hope.
30Let him offer his cheek
to the one who would strike him;#Is 50:6; Mt 5:39; Lk 6:29
let him be filled with disgrace.
כ Kaph
31For the Lord
will not reject us forever.
32Even if he causes suffering,
he will show compassion
according to the abundance of his faithful love.#Ps 106:43–45; Ac 14:22; 2Co 4:17; Heb 12:6
33For he does not enjoy bringing affliction#Heb 12:10–11
or suffering on mankind.
ל Lamed
34Crushing all the prisoners of the land#3:34 Or earth
beneath one’s feet,
35denying justice to a man#Ex 23:6; Dt 16:19; 24:17; Mal 3:5
in the presence of the Most High,
36or subverting a person in his lawsuit#Ex 23:2–3 —
the Lord does not approve of these things.
מ Mem
37Who is there who speaks and it happens,
unless the Lord has ordained it?#Ps 33:9–11
38Do not both adversity and good
come from the mouth of the Most High?#Gn 50:20; 1Sm 16:14; Jb 2:10; Ps 78:49; Is 45:7; Jr 1:14; 32:42; Am 3:6
39Why should any living person complain,
any man, because of the punishment for his sins?
נ Nun
40Let’s examine and probe our ways,
and turn back to the Lord.#Ps 119:5; 139:23–24
41Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands#Ps 25:1
to God in heaven:
42“We have sinned and rebelled;
you have not forgiven.#Dt 29:20; 2Kg 24:4; Jr 5:7
ס Samek
43“You have covered yourself in anger and pursued us;
you have killed without compassion.#Lm 2:2,17,21; Ezk 7:8–9; 8:18
44You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.#Lm 3:8
45You have made us disgusting filth
among the peoples.#1Co 4:13
פ Pe
46“All our enemies
open their mouths against us.#Lm 2:16
47We have experienced panic and pitfall,#Is 24:17; Jr 48:43
devastation and destruction.”
48My eyes flow with streams of tears
because of the destruction of my dear people.
ע Ayin
49My eyes overflow unceasingly,
without end,#Jr 9:1,18; Lm 1:16; 2:11
50until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.#Ps 14:2; 102:19
51My eyes bring me grief
because of the fate of all the women in my city.
צ Tsade
52For no reason, my enemies#3:52 Or Those who were my enemies for no reason
hunted me like a bird.#Ps 35:7
53They smothered my life in#3:53 Or They ended my life in; Hb obscure a pit#Gn 37:20–29; Jr 38:6–13
and threw stones on me.
54Water flooded over my head,#Ps 42:7; 69:1–2; Jnh 2:3,5
and I thought, “I’m going to die!” #Ezk 37:11
ק Qoph
55I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
56You heard my plea:
Do not ignore my cry for relief.
57You came near whenever I called you;
you said, “Do not be afraid.”
ר Resh
58You championed my cause, Lord;#Ps 43:1; Pr 23:11; Jr 50:34
you redeemed my life.#Ps 103:4; 119:154
59 Lord, you saw the wrong done to me;
judge my case.
60You saw all their vengefulness,
all their plots against me.#Jr 11:19
שׂ Sin / שׁ Shin
61 Lord, you heard their insults,#Lm 5:1
all their plots against me.
62The slander#3:62 Lit lips and murmuring of my opponents
attack me all day long.
63When they sit and when they rise, look,
I am mocked by their songs.#Jb 30:9; Ps 69:12; Lm 3:14
ת Taw
64You will pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
according to the work of their hands.#Ps 28:4; Rm 2:6; Rv 20:12–13
65You will give them a heart filled with anguish.#3:65 Or them an obstinate heart; Hb obscure#Is 6:10
May your curse be on them!
66You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
under your heavens.#3:66 Lit under the Lord’s heavens#Ps 8:3
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Lamentations 3: CSB
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