Lamentations 3
3
Chapter 3
The prophet remembers that God is always faithful
1I am the man who has suffered.
God punished me because he was angry.
2He took me into very dark places.
I had to walk in the dark instead of in the light.
3He has continued to attack me many times.
All day, every day, he punishes me.
4He has caused my body and skin to spoil.
He has broken my bones.
5He has attacked me from every side,
so that I have pain and trouble.
6He has made me live in a very dark place,
like people who died long ago.
7He has put heavy chains on me like a prisoner.
I cannot escape from my troubles.
8I call out loudly for God to help me,
but God does not listen to my prayer.
9He has used big rocks to build a wall across every road where I go.
I cannot go anywhere.
10God waits to attack me, like a bear.
He hides like a lion that wants to kill.
11He has pulled me away from the road.
He has torn me in pieces.
He has left me without any help.
12He is like a soldier who is ready to shoot his arrows.
I am the one that he wants to hit!
13He has shot his arrows and he has hit me.
It hurts me deep inside.
14All my people laugh at me.
All the time, they sing songs that insult me.
15God has caused me to suffer very much,
as if I have drunk a bitter drink.
16He has made me eat stones that break my teeth.
He has pushed me down into the dirt on the ground.
17I have no peace in my mind.
I cannot remember the happy days that I had before.
18I tell myself, ‘I have no strength to live any more.
I no longer have hope that the Lord will help me.’
19I think about my troubles, with no home to go to.
It is like a bitter poison that I have to drink.
20I think about these things all the time,
and I feel very upset.
21But now I remember what God is like,
so I still have hope. #3:21 The prophet begins to have hope again when he thinks about God. The verses which follow describe what God is like.
22The Lord's faithful love never comes to an end.
He never stops being kind to us.
23Every day, we can trust him to be kind.
Yes God, you are always faithful!
24I say to myself, ‘The Lord God is with me and that is enough.
I will trust him to help me.’
25The Lord is kind to people who trust in him.
He helps those who turn to him.
26It is good when people wait quietly
for the Lord to rescue them.
27It is good if you learn to accept trouble
when you are still young.
28When the Lord causes us to suffer,
we should sit alone quietly.
29We should be humble as we suffer.
Then hope may come again.
30If somebody hits us on one side of our face,
we should let them hit the other side too. #3:30 Jesus spoke about this too. See Matthew 5:39.
If people insult us, we should accept it.
31The Lord God will not turn against his people for ever.
32He may cause us to suffer for a time,
but then he will be kind to us,
because his faithful love is very great.
33It does not please him to make people suffer.
He does not like to give them pain.
34If anyone is cruel to all the prisoners in the land,
that is not good.
35If anyone turns against the Most High God and cheats people,
that is not good.
36If anyone tells lies in court,
that is not good.
The Lord God is not happy when he sees any of these bad things.
37Nobody can command things to happen
unless the Lord God says it must happen.
38The Most High God says what will happen,
both good things and bad things.
39When God punishes us for our sins
we have no reason to complain.
40Instead, we should think carefully about how we live.
We should turn back to the Lord again.
41We should be honest with God in heaven,
lift up our hands and pray to him:
42‘We have completely turned against you.
You have not forgiven us.
43You have chased after us with your great anger.
You have not felt sorry to kill us.
44You have hidden yourself from us in a cloud.
So our prayers cannot reach you.
45You have caused us to become like dirty rubbish.
So the people of other nations do not respect us.
46All our enemies are happy
to see that we have trouble.
47 Terrible troubles have come to destroy us.
So we are very afraid.’
48 Tears pour from my eyes like a river,
because enemies have destroyed my people.
49My tears will continue to pour out.
They will never stop,
50until the Lord looks down from heaven.
He will see what is happening to us.
51I see how much the young women of my city are suffering.
It makes me very upset.
52My enemies had no reason to hate me,
but they caught me like people catch birds.
53They threw me into a deep hole in the ground
and they threw stones at me to kill me.
54The water in the hole rose up my head.
Then I thought, ‘I will soon die.’
55From the bottom of the deep hole
I called your name, Lord.
56I said, ‘Please listen to me as I call to you for help.’
You heard my prayer.
57You came near to me when I prayed to you.
You said to me, ‘Do not be afraid.’
58Lord God, you spoke on my behalf.
You rescued me from death.
59You have seen how my enemies have been cruel to me.
Judge fairly and show that I am right!
60You have seen that my enemies hate me
and they make plans to hurt me.
61 Lord, you have heard them when they insult me.
You know about their plans to hurt me.
62My enemies say bad things about me.
They are always thinking about ways to attack me.
63Watch them as they sing songs to insult me.
They sing them all the time.
64 Lord, punish them as they deserve
for all the bad things that they have done.
65Take away all their hope.
Curse them so that they suffer!
66 Chase after them in your anger.
Cause them to disappear from the whole earth.
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Lamentations 3: EASY
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