LAM C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

OEB LAM Chapter 3

◄ LAM 3 ► ║ ©

3 I am the man who was humbled

By the rod of His anger.

2 The way that He guided and led me

Was dark and unlighted.

3 Against me alone was His hand

Ever turned all the day.

4 He hath shrivelled my flesh and my skin;

He hath broken my bones.

5 He hath built round bout me a wall

Of exhaustion and bitterness.

6 He hath made me to dwell in the darkness

As those long dead.

7 He hath shut me behind solid walls;

He hath loaded my chain.

8 When I cry and entreat Him for help,

He is deaf to my prayer.

9 He hath blocked up my path with hewn stone,

And my way He hath tangled.

10 He lurketh for me like a bear

Or a lion in ambush.

11 He chased me aside and He tore me

And left me forlorn.

12 His bow he bent, and He set me

As mark for His arrow.

13 Into my reins He hath driven

The shafts of His quiver.

14 A derision was I to all peoples,

Their song all the day.

15 To the full did He fill me with bitterness,

With wormwood He sated me.

16 He hath broken my teeth with gravel,

And heaped me with ashes.

17 He hath robbed me of peace; and of weal

I remember no more.

18 So I said, "My glory is gone

And my hope in Jehovah."

19 The thought of my woe and my wandering

Is wormwood and gall.

20 My soul doth for ever recall them,

And is bowed down within me.

21 Now this I will lay on my heart

And will therefore take hope–

22 That the love of the Lord is unceasing,

His pity unfailing.

23 Thy kindness is new every morning

And great is Thy faithfulness.

24 "The Lord is my portion," I said:

"I will hope then in Him."

25 Those that wait for the Lord find Him gracious–

The souls that do seek Him.

26 It is good, then, in silence to wait

For the help of the Lord.

27 It is good for a man that he carry

A yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit all alone and keep silence,

When He hath imposed it.

29 Let him lay his lips low in the dust,

For perchance there is hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek to the smiter

And bear all the taunt.

31 For Jehovah will not cast away

The afflicted for ever.

32 Though He wound, He will yet have compassion–

His love is so great.

33 He is loth to give sorrow or pain

To the children of men.

34 When the men of a land, taken prisoner,

Are crushed under foot:

35 When a man is deprived of his right

In the face of the Highest:

36 When the cause of a man is subverted:

Doth not the Lord see?

37 Where is he that can bring things to pass,

That the Lord hath not ordered?

38 Do not evil and good come alike

From the mouth of the Highest?

39 Why then should a mortal complain

When chastised for his sins?

40 Let us search and examine our ways

And return to the Lord.

41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands

Unto God in the heavens.

42 "We have transgressed and rebelled,

And Thou hast not pardoned.

43 Thou hast wrapped Thee in wrath and pursued us,

And slain without pity;

44 Has wrapped Thee around in a cloud

Which no prayer could pass through.

45 Thou hast made us off-scouring and refuse

In the midst of the nations.

46 Against us our enemies all

Open wide their mouths.

47 Fear and the pit are upon us,

Destruction and ruin."

48 Mine eye runs with rivers of water

For the wreck of my people.

49 Mine eye poureth down without rest

And without any respite,

50 Until that Jehovah in heaven

Look down and behold.

51 Mine eyes are vexed with grief

For the daughters of my city.

52 They have hunted me sore like a bird–

Those that groundlessly hate me–

53 Have ended my life in the dungeon

And cast stones upon me.

54 Waters flowed over my head,

And I said, "I am lost."

55 From the depths of the dungeon, O Lord,

Did I call on Thy name;

56 And my voice Thou didst hear: "O hide not

Thine ear from my cry."

57 Thou camest the day that I called Thee,

And badest me fear not.

58 Thou pleddest my cause, O Lord,

And didst ransom my life.

59 Thou hast seen, Lord, how I am wronged;

O secure for me justice:

60 For all the revenge Thou hast seen

That they plotted against me.

61 O Lord, Thou has heard all the insults

They plotted against me.

62 The threatenings and plots without ceasing

Of those that assail me.

63 See how, whether sitting or rising,

They mock me in taunt-songs.

64 Thou wilt requite them, O Lord,

For the deeds they have done.

65 Blindness of heart wilt Thou give them–

Thy curse be upon them!

66 Pursue them in wrath and destroy them

From under Thy heavens.

Lament over the Sorrows of Jerusalem

The Fate of the People and their Leaders

◄ LAM 3 ► ║ ©

LAM C1 C2 C3 C4 C5