Lamentations 3
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King James BibleNew Living Translation
1I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.1I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD’s anger.
2He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.2He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light.
3Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.3He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.4He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones.
5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.5He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress.
6He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.6He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead.
7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.7He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains.
8Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.8And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers.
9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.9He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked.
10He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.10He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me.
11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.11He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated.
12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.12He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.13He shot his arrows deep into my heart.
14I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.14My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs.
15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.15He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.
16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.16He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust.
17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.17Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:18I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!”
19Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.19The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.
20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.20I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.
21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.21Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:
22It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.22The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease.
23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.23Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.24I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.25The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.26So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.
27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.27And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline:
28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.28Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD’s demands.
29He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.29Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.
30He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.30Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.
31For the Lord will not cast off for ever:31For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.
32But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.32Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
33For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.33For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.
34To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,34If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,35if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High,
36To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.36if they twist justice in the courts— doesn’t the Lord see all these things?
37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?37Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission?
38Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?38Does not the Most High send both calamity and good?
39Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?39Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?
40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.40Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD.
41Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.41Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say,
42We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.42“We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us.
43Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.43“You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy.
44Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.44You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you.
45Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.45You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations.
46All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.46“All our enemies have spoken out against us.
47Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.47We are filled with fear, for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.”
48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.48Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people!
49Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,49My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop
50Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.51My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.
52Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.52My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird.
53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.53They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me.
54Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.54The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!”
55I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.55But I called on your name, LORD, from deep within the pit.
56Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.56You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!”
57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.57Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.”
58O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.58Lord, you have come to my defense; you have redeemed my life.
59O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.59You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD. Be my judge, and prove me right.
60Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.60You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me.
61Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;61LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me. You know all about the plans they have made.
62The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.62My enemies whisper and mutter as they plot against me all day long.
63Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.63Look at them! Whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs.
64Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.64Pay them back, LORD, for all the evil they have done.
65Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.65Give them hard and stubborn hearts, and then let your curse fall on them!
66Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.66Chase them down in your anger, destroying them beneath the LORD’s heavens.
King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Lamentations 2
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