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Lamentations 3 :: New International Version (NIV)

Lam 3:1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD’s wrath.

Lam 3:2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;

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

Lam 3:4He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.

Lam 3:5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

Lam 3:6He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.

Lam 3:7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.

Lam 3:8Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.

Lam 3:9He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.

Lam 3:10Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,

Lam 3:11he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.

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

Lam 3:13He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.

Lam 3:14I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

Lam 3:15He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.

Lam 3:16He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.

Lam 3:17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

Lam 3:18So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.”

Lam 3:19I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

Lam 3:20I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Lam 3:21Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Lam 3:22Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

Lam 3:23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lam 3:24I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Lam 3:25The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

Lam 3:26it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Lam 3:27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

Lam 3:28Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.

Lam 3:29Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope.

Lam 3:30Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.

Lam 3:31For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.

Lam 3:32Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

Lam 3:33For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

Lam 3:34To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,

Lam 3:35to deny people their rights before the Most High,

Lam 3:36to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?

Lam 3:37Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?

Lam 3:38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Lam 3:39Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?

Lam 3:40Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.

Lam 3:41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:

Lam 3:42“We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.

Lam 3:43“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.

Lam 3:44You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.

Lam 3:45You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.

Lam 3:46“All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.

Lam 3:47We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.”

Lam 3:48Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.

Lam 3:49My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,

Lam 3:50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

Lam 3:51What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.

Lam 3:52Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.

Lam 3:53They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;

Lam 3:54the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.

Lam 3:55I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit.

Lam 3:56You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”

Lam 3:57You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”

Lam 3:58You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.

Lam 3:59LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!

Lam 3:60You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.

Lam 3:61LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me—

Lam 3:62what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.

Lam 3:63Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.

Lam 3:64Pay them back what they deserve, LORD, for what their hands have done.

Lam 3:65Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!

Lam 3:66Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.

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