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Lamentations 3:1-66 — Hope in God's Faithfulness

Lam.3.1-66

¹I am the man who has experienced affliction under the rod of his wrath. ²He has driven me and made me walk in darkness, and not in light. ³Surely he turns his hand against me again and again, all day long. ⁴He has worn away my flesh and my skin; he has shattered my bones. ⁵He has built a siege against me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. ⁶He has made me dwell in dark places, like those long dead. ⁷He has walled me in so that I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. ⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help, he shuts out my prayer. ⁹He has blocked my ways with cut stone; he has made my paths crooked. ¹⁰He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding. ¹¹He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; he has left me desolate. ¹²He bent his bow and set me as the target for his arrow. ¹³He pierced my kidneys with the arrows of his quiver. ¹⁴I have become a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long. ¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness; he has made me drunk with wormwood. ¹⁶He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. ¹⁷My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. ¹⁸So I say, “My endurance has perished, along with my hope from Yahweh.” ¹⁹Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall. ²⁰My soul continually remembers them and is bowed down within me. ²¹Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²²The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases; his compassions never fail. ²³They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” ²⁵Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ²⁶It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of Yahweh. ²⁷It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. ²⁸Let him sit alone in silence, for he has laid it upon him. ²⁹Let him put his mouth in the dust—perhaps there is still hope. ³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him; let him be filled with reproach. ³¹For the Lord will not cast us off forever. ³²Though he causes grief, he will show compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. ³³For he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. ³⁴To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, ³⁵to deny a man justice before the face of the Most High, ³⁶to subvert a man in his lawsuit—the Lord does not approve. ³⁷Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? ³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both adversity and good come? ³⁹Why should any living mortal complain, a man concerning the punishment for his sins? ⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways, and let us return to Yahweh. ⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: ⁴²"We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. ⁴³You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have killed without pity. ⁴⁴You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. ⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. ⁴⁷Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction." ⁴⁸Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief, ⁵⁰until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees. ⁵¹My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city. ⁵²My enemies hunted me relentlessly like a bird, without cause. ⁵³They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me. ⁵⁴The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off.” ⁵⁵I called on your name, Yahweh, from the lowest pit. ⁵⁶You heard my voice: “Do not hide your ear from my cry for relief.” ⁵⁷You drew near on the day I called on you; you said, “Do not be afraid.” ⁵⁸You have defended my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. ⁵⁹You have seen, Yahweh, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause! ⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. ⁶¹You have heard their insults, Yahweh, all their plots against me— ⁶²the whispering of my assailants and their murmuring against me all day long. ⁶³Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am the subject of their mocking song. ⁶⁴You will pay them back, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵You will give them hardness of heart; your curse will be upon them. ⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under the heavens of Yahweh.

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4/11/2026

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