Lamentations 3:21-66

But this I call to mind, Therefore I have hope. It is because of the LORD’S lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, Because His [tender] compassions never fail. [Mal 3:6] They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness. [Is 33:2] “The LORD is my portion and my inheritance,” says my soul; “Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” [Num 18:20] The LORD is good to those who wait [confidently] for Him, To those who seek Him [on the authority of God’s word]. It is good that one waits quietly For the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke [of godly discipline] in his youth. Let him sit alone [in hope] and keep quiet, Because God has laid it on him [for his benefit]. [Rom 8:28] Let him put his mouth in the dust [in recognition of his unworthiness]; There may yet be hope. [Mic 7:17] Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him; Let him be filled with reproach. For the Lord will not reject forever, [Ps 94:14] For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness and tender mercy. For He does not afflict willingly and from His heart Or grieve the children of men. [Ezek 18:23, 32; Hos 11:8; Heb 12:5-10; 2 Pet 3:9] To trample and crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land, To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High, To defraud a man in his lawsuit— The Lord does not approve of these things. Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has authorized and commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both adversity (misfortune) and good (prosperity, happiness) proceed? ¶Why should any living mortal, or any man, Complain [of punishment] in view of his sins? Let us test and examine our ways, And let us return to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [in prayer] Toward God in heaven; We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned. You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain [without pity] and have not spared. You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through. You have made us scum and refuse Among the peoples (Gentile nations). All our enemies have gaped at us. Panic and pitfall (traps, danger) have come on us, Devastation and destruction. My eyes overflow with streams of tears Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (Jerusalem). My eyes overflow unceasingly, Without stopping, Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven. My eyes [see things that] bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. Without cause my enemies Hunted me down like a bird; They silenced me in the pit And placed a stone over me. [Jer 38] The waters ran down on my head; I said, “I am cut off (destroyed)!” I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit. [Jer 38:6] You have heard my voice, “Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help.” You drew near on the day I called to You; You said, “Do not fear.” [James 4:8] O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause [You have guided my way and protected me]; You have rescued and redeemed my life. O LORD, You have seen the wrong [done to me]; Judge my case. You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. You have heard their reproach, O LORD, And all their schemes against me. The lips and whispering of my assailants Are against me all day long. Look at their sitting and their rising [their actions and secret counsels]; I am their mocking song [the subject of their ridicule]. [Ps 139:2; Is 37:28] You will repay them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. You will harden their hearts; Your curse will be upon them. You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD.