Lamentations 3 - NIV Translation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Lam 3:15 NIV) He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.

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

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

(Lam 3:18 NIV) So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD."

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

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

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

(Lam 3:22 NIV) Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

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

(Lam 3:24 NIV) I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

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

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

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

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

(Lam 3:29 NIV) Let him bury his face in the dust-- there may yet be hope.

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

(Lam 3:31 NIV) For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.

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

(Lam 3:33 NIV) For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

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

(Lam 3:35 NIV) to deny a man his rights before the Most High,

(Lam 3:36 NIV) to deprive a man of justice-- would not the Lord see such things?

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

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

(Lam 3:39 NIV) Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?

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

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

(Lam 3:42 NIV) "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.

(Lam 3:43 NIV) "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.

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

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

(Lam 3:46 NIV) "All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.

(Lam 3:47 NIV) We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction."

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Lam 3:54 NIV) the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off.

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

(Lam 3:56 NIV) You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief."

(Lam 3:57 NIV) You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."

(Lam 3:58 NIV) O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life.

(Lam 3:59 NIV) You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!

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

(Lam 3:61 NIV) O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me--

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

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

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

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

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