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LAM C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

UST LAM Chapter 3

◄ LAM 3 ► ║ ═ ©

3 ALEPH

 I am a man who has suffered greatly

because God punished me when he was very angry.

2 He sent me into a place where I only suffer

and nothing good happens to me.

3 He keeps acting against me again and again,

all day long.

BETH

4 He afflicted my body

and broke my bones.

5 He attacked me on every side

and caused me to suffer terribly.

6 He made me feel hopeless,

like no one remembers me.

GIMEL

7 He has completely trapped me

so that I cannot escape.

8 Even though I beg him to help me,

he refuses to listen when I pray.

9 He has blocked every way forward for me

so that I cannot make any progress in my life.

DALETH

10 He waited to attack me like a bear hiding to ambush its prey,

like a lion crouching in a hidden place.

11 He ruined my plans

and destroyed me;

he made me poor.

12 He deliberately chose to attack me

and made me the one he would harm.

13 He deliberately caused me intense suffering.

14 All my own people mock me

constantly with their songs.

15 He has caused me to suffer

so much that I cannot bear it.

WAW

16 He completely humiliated me

and degraded me.

17 God took away all my peace;

I no longer remember what happiness feels like.

18 So I said to myself, “I cannot endure any longer,

and I have no more reason to hope in Yahweh.”

ZAYIN

19 Yahweh, remember how I have suffered and wandered;

I have suffered so very greatly.

20 I keep thinking about it over and over,

and it makes me deeply depressed.

21 Yet when I think about this one thing,

I find reason to hope:

HETH

22 Yahweh never stops faithfully loving us,

and he never stops showing us mercy.

23 Every morning he shows us mercy again;

he is always faithful to us.

24 I said to myself, “Yahweh is all that I need;

so I will confidently wait for him.”

TETH

25 Yahweh is good to everyone who depends on him,

to everyone who hopes that Yahweh will help him.

26 It is good to wait quietly

for Yahweh to save us.

27 It is good for a person

to endure suffering patiently while still young.

YODH

28 A person should accept his situation quietly and not complain

when God causes him to suffer.

29 He should bow down with his face to the ground,

because there may still be reason to hope.

30 He should offer his cheek to the one who hits him

and accept all the insults people give him.

KAPH

31 The Lord does not reject people forever.

32 Even though he causes people to grieve,

he will show them mercy because he always faithfully loves them.

33 He does not enjoy causing people to suffer

or making them grieve.

LAMEDH

34 When people crush all the prisoners in a land under their feet,

35 when they cheat someone and deny him what he deserves

right in front of the Most High God,

36 when they treat someone unfairly in his legal dispute—the Lord does not approve of any of these things.

MEM

37 No one can simply speak and make something happen

unless the Lord has commanded it.

38 The Most High God is the one who decides

both the bad things and the good things that happen.

39 No living person should complain

when God punishes him for his sins.

NUN

40 Instead, we should carefully examine how we have been living,

and we should turn back to Yahweh.

41 We should sincerely pray, raising our hands to God in heaven:

42 “We have sinned and rebelled against you,

and you have not forgiven us.

SAMEKH

43 Because you were angry, you chased after us;

you killed us without showing us any mercy.

44 You made yourself unreachable

so that you did not hear any of our prayers.

45 You have made the other nations treat us

as though we are nothing but garbage and filth.

AYIN

46 All our enemies

have spoken hateful things against us.

47 We have experienced nothing but fear and danger,

ruin and destruction.”

48 Many tears flow from my eyes

because enemies have destroyed my people.

49 My tears pour out and will not stop;

they will not end

50 until Yahweh looks down

and sees us from heaven.

51 What I see makes me grieve deeply

because of what has happened to all the women of my city.

TSADHE

52 My enemies relentlessly pursued me without any reason,

even though I had done nothing wrong.

53 They threw me into a pit to kill me

and dropped stones on top of me.

54 Water rose over my head,

and I said to myself, “I am going to die!”

QOPH

55 I called out to you, Yahweh,

from the deepest part of that pit.

56 You heard me;

do not ignore me when I cry out to you for help!

57 You came near when I called to you

and said, “Do not be afraid!”

RESH

58 Lord, you defended me;

you saved my life.

59 Yahweh, you have seen how my enemies have wronged me;

make things right for me!

60 You have seen how they want to take revenge on me

and all the things they have planned to do to me.

SIN

61 Yahweh, you have heard them insult me

and all the things they have planned to do to me.

62 Those who oppose me whisper and mutter things

about me all day long.

63 Look at them! No matter what they are doing,

they make fun of me in their songs.

TAW

64 Yahweh, pay them back

for what they have done!

65 Make them stubborn,

and let your curse fall on them.

66 Because you are angry with them, chase them and destroy them

so they no longer exist anywhere on earth.

LAM C1 C2 C3 C4 C5