Read New International Version, 2011 Lamentations 3 Bible Online

Lamentations 3 - New International Version, 2011 bible

Lamentations 3

¹ [9] [1] I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD’s wrath.

²He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;

³indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.

⁴He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.

⁵He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

⁶He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.

⁷He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.

⁸Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.

⁹He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,

¹¹he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.

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

¹³He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.

¹⁴I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

¹⁵He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.

¹⁶He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.

¹⁷I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

¹⁸So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.”

¹⁹I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

²⁰I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

²¹Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

²²Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

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

²⁴I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

²⁶it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

²⁸Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.

²⁹Let him bury his face in the dust — there may yet be hope.

³⁰Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.

³¹For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.

³²Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

³³For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

³⁴To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,

³⁵to deny people their rights before the Most High,

³⁶to deprive them of justice — would not the Lord see such things?

³⁷Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?

³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

³⁹Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.

⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:

⁴²“We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.

⁴³“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.

⁴⁴You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.

⁴⁵You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.

⁴⁶“All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.

⁴⁷We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.”

⁴⁸Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.

⁴⁹My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,

⁵⁰until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

⁵¹What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.

⁵²Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.

⁵³They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;

⁵⁴the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.

⁵⁵I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit.

⁵⁶You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”

⁵⁷You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”

⁵⁸You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.

⁵⁹ LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!

⁶⁰You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.

⁶¹ LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me —

⁶²what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.

⁶³Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.

⁶⁴Pay them back what they deserve, LORD, for what their hands have done.

⁶⁵Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!

⁶⁶Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.