3Lamentations 3

Punishment, Repentance, and Hope

1I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.Select Lamentations 3:1

2He drove me deeper and deeper into darknessSelect Lamentations 3:2

3And beat me again and again with merciless blows.Select Lamentations 3:3

4He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.Select Lamentations 3:4

5He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.Select Lamentations 3:5

6He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.Select Lamentations 3:6

7He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.Select Lamentations 3:7

8I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;Select Lamentations 3:8

9I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.Select Lamentations 3:9

10He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.Select Lamentations 3:10

11He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.Select Lamentations 3:11

12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.Select Lamentations 3:12

13He shot his arrows deep into my body.Select Lamentations 3:13

14People laugh at me all day long; I am a joke to them all.Select Lamentations 3:14

15Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.Select Lamentations 3:15

16He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on rocks.Select Lamentations 3:16

17I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.Select Lamentations 3:17

18I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the Lord is gone.Select Lamentations 3:18

19The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.Select Lamentations 3:19

20I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.Select Lamentations 3:20

21Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:Select Lamentations 3:21

22The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue,Select Lamentations 3:22

23Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.Select Lamentations 3:23

24The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.Select Lamentations 3:24

25The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him,Select Lamentations 3:25

26So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us—Select Lamentations 3:26

27And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.Select Lamentations 3:27

28When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience;Select Lamentations 3:28

29We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope.Select Lamentations 3:29

30Though beaten and insulted, we should accept it all.Select Lamentations 3:30

31The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever.Select Lamentations 3:31

32He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.Select Lamentations 3:32

33He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.Select Lamentations 3:33

34The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison;Select Lamentations 3:34

35He knows when we are denied the rights he gave us;Select Lamentations 3:35

36When justice is perverted in court, he knows.Select Lamentations 3:36

37The will of the Lord alone is always carried out.Select Lamentations 3:37

38Good and evil alike take place at his command.Select Lamentations 3:38

39Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?Select Lamentations 3:39

40Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord.Select Lamentations 3:40

41Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,Select Lamentations 3:41

42“We have sinned and rebelled, and you, O Lord, have not forgiven us.Select Lamentations 3:42

43“You pursued us and killed us; your mercy was hidden by your anger,Select Lamentations 3:43

44By a cloud of fury too thick for our prayers to get through.Select Lamentations 3:44

45You have made us the garbage dump of the world.Select Lamentations 3:45

46“We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies.Select Lamentations 3:46

47We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear.Select Lamentations 3:47

48My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people.Select Lamentations 3:48

49“My tears will pour out in a ceaseless streamSelect Lamentations 3:49

50Until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees us.Select Lamentations 3:50

51My heart is grieved when I see what has happened to the women of the city.Select Lamentations 3:51

52“I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.Select Lamentations 3:52

53They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.Select Lamentations 3:53

54Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.Select Lamentations 3:54

55“From the bottom of the pit, O Lord, I cried out to you,Select Lamentations 3:55

56And when I begged you to listen to my cry, you heard.Select Lamentations 3:56

57You answered me and told me not to be afraid.Select Lamentations 3:57

58“You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.Select Lamentations 3:58

59Judge in my favor; you know the wrongs done against me.Select Lamentations 3:59

60You know how my enemies hate me and how they plot against me.Select Lamentations 3:60

61“You have heard them insult me, O Lord; you know all their plots.Select Lamentations 3:61

62All day long they talk about me and make their plans.Select Lamentations 3:62

63From morning till night they make fun of me.Select Lamentations 3:63

64“Punish them for what they have done, O Lord;Select Lamentations 3:64

65Curse them and fill them with despair!Select Lamentations 3:65

66Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!”Select Lamentations 3:66