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Lamentations 3 - American Standard Version bible

Lamentations 3

¹I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

²He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.

³Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.

⁴My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

⁵He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

⁶He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.

⁷He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.

⁸Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.

⁹He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.

¹¹He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.

¹²He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

¹³He hath caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.

¹⁴I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.

¹⁵He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.

¹⁶He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes.

¹⁷And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.

¹⁸And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.

¹⁹Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.

²¹This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.

²²It is of Jehovah’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

²³They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.

²⁴Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

²⁵Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

²⁶It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.

²⁷It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

²⁸Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.

²⁹Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.

³⁰Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be filled full with reproach.

³¹For the Lord will not cast off for ever.

³²For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

³³For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,

³⁵To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,

³⁶To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.

³⁷Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

³⁸Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good?

³⁹Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.

⁴¹Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

⁴²We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned.

⁴³Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

⁴⁴Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵Thou hast made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

⁴⁷Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction.

⁴⁸Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

⁵⁰Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.

⁵¹Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause.

⁵³They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me.

⁵⁴Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.

⁵⁵I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon.

⁵⁶Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

⁵⁷Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.

⁵⁸O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

⁵⁹O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.

⁶⁰Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.

⁶¹Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me,

⁶²The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.

⁶³Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.

⁶⁴Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.

⁶⁶Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.