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Lamentations 3 - Good News Bible bible

Lamentations 3

¹I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.

²He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness

³And beat me again and again with merciless blows.

⁴He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.

⁵He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.

⁶He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.

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

⁸I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;

⁹I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.

¹⁰He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.

¹¹He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.

¹²He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³He shot his arrows deep into my body.

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

¹⁵Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.

¹⁶He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on rocks.

¹⁷I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.

¹⁸I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the LORD is gone.

¹⁹The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.

²⁰I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.

²¹Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:

²²The LORD's unfailing love and mercy still continue,

²³Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.

²⁴The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.

²⁵The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him,

²⁶So it is best for us to wait in patience---to wait for him to save us---

²⁷And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.

²⁸When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience;

²⁹We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope.

³⁰Though beaten and insulted, we should accept it all.

³¹The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever.

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

³³He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.

³⁴The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison;

³⁵He knows when we are denied the rights he gave us;

³⁶When justice is perverted in court, he knows.

³⁷The will of the Lord alone is always carried out.

³⁸Good and evil alike take place at his command.

³⁹Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?

⁴⁰Let us examine our ways and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,

⁴²"We have sinned and rebelled, and you, O LORD, have not forgiven us.

⁴³"You pursued us and killed us; your mercy was hidden by your anger,

⁴⁴By a cloud of fury too thick for our prayers to get through.

⁴⁵You have made us the garbage dump of the world.

⁴⁶"We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies.

⁴⁷We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear.

⁴⁸My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people.

⁴⁹"My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream

⁵⁰Until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees us.

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

⁵²"I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.

⁵³They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.

⁵⁴Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.

⁵⁵"From the bottom of the pit, O LORD, I cried out to you,

⁵⁶And when I begged you to listen to my cry, you heard.

⁵⁷You answered me and told me not to be afraid.

⁵⁸"You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.

⁵⁹Judge in my favor; you know the wrongs done against me.

⁶⁰You know how my enemies hate me and how they plot against me.

⁶¹"You have heard them insult me, O LORD; you know all their plots.

⁶²All day long they talk about me and make their plans.

⁶³From morning till night they make fun of me.

⁶⁴"Punish them for what they have done, O LORD;

⁶⁵Curse them and fill them with despair!

⁶⁶Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!"