ø     eBIBLE         ȸ             伺뵶     Ǵ    ȸҰ
  eBIBLE       ּ            
Library > Bible versions > NIV > Lamentations > 3 >
Lamentations  


3 : 1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
3 : 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
3 : 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
3 : 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
3 : 5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
3 : 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
3 : 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
3 : 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
3 : 9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
3 : 10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
3 : 11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
3 : 12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
3 : 13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
3 : 14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
3 : 15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.
3 : 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
3 : 17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
3 : 18 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
3 : 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
3 : 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
3 : 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
3 : 22 Because of the LORD`s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
3 : 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
3 : 24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
3 : 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
3 : 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
3 : 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
3 : 28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
3 : 29 Let him bury his face in the dust-- there may yet be hope.
3 : 30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
3 : 31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.
3 : 32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
3 : 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
3 : 34 To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
3 : 35 to deny a man his rights before the Most High,
3 : 36 to deprive a man of justice-- would not the Lord see such things?
3 : 37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
3 : 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
3 : 39 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?
3 : 40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
3 : 41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
3 : 42 We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
3 : 43 You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.
3 : 44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
3 : 45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
3 : 46 All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.
3 : 47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction."
3 : 48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
3 : 49 My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,
3 : 50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
3 : 51 What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.
3 : 52 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.
3 : 53 They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;
3 : 54 the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off.
3 : 55 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit.
3 : 56 You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief."
3 : 57 You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."
3 : 58 O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life.
3 : 59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!
3 : 60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.
3 : 61 O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me-
3 : 62 what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.
3 : 63 Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.
3 : 64 Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done.
3 : 65 Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!
3 : 66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.