Lamentations 3
JPS Tanakh (Jewish Publication Society, 1917)
Berean Standard Bible
1I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
1I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
2He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness and not in light.
2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
3Surely against me He turneth His hand again and again all the day.
3Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
4My flesh and my skin hath He worn out; He hath broken my bones.
4He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
6He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot go forth; He hath made my chain heavy.
7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
8Yea, when I cry and call for help, He shutteth out my prayer.
8Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked.
9He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
10He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
10He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; He hath made me desolate.
11He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
12He hath bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
12He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
13He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins.
13He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
14I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
14I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15He hath filled me with bitterness, He hath sated me with wormwood.
15He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, He hath made me to wallow in ashes.
16He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
17And my soul is removed far off from peace, I forgot prosperity.
17My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18And I said: 'My strength is perished, and mine expectation from the LORD.'
18So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
19Remember mine affliction and mine anguish, the wormwood and the gall.
19Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.
20Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
21Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22Surely the LORD'S mercies are not consumed, surely His compassions fail not.
22Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
23They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.
23They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24'The LORD is my portion', saith my soul; 'Therefore will I hope in Him.'
24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
25The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.
25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26It is good that a man should quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
26It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28Let him sit alone and keep silence, because He hath laid it upon him.
28Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
29Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
30Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him, let him be filled full with reproach.
30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
31For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
31For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
32For though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.
32Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
33For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
33For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
34To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
34To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
35to deny a man justice before the Most High,
36To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
36to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good?
38Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39Wherefore doth a living man complain, a strong man because of his sins?
39Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
40Let us search and try our ways, and return to the LORD.
40Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
41Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
41Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42We have transgressed and have rebelled; Thou hast not pardoned.
42“We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; Thou hast slain unsparingly.
43You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
44Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
44You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
45Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
45You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
46All our enemies open their mouths against us.
47Terror and the pit are come upon us, desolation and destruction.
47Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the breach of the daughter of my people.
48Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49Mine eye is poured out, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
49My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
50Till the LORD look forth, and behold from heaven.
50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51Mine eye affected my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
51My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52They have chased me sore like a bird, that are mine enemies without cause.
52Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast stones upon me.
53They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
54Waters flowed over my head; I said: 'I am cut off.'
54The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
55I called upon Thy name, O LORD, Out of the lowest dungeon.
55I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
56Thou heardest my voice; hide not Thine ear at my sighing, at my cry.
56You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst: 'Fear not.'
57You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou hast redeemed my life.
58You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
59O LORD, Thou hast seen my wrong; judge Thou my cause.
59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.
60You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61Thou hast heard their taunt, O LORD, and all their devices against me;
61O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62The lips of those that rose up against me, and their muttering against me all the day.
62the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
63Behold Thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.
63When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
64Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
64You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, Thy curse unto them.
65Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
66Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
66You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
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