Third lamentation
1 I am a man who has known calamity from the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
into darkness, not into the light.
3 He turns his hand against me alone,
all the day long, again and again.
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin;
he has broken all my bones.
5 He assails me and surrounds me
with tribulation and bitterness.
6 He leaves me to dwell in darkness,
like those who have long been dead.
7 He has walled me in without es cape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 I could not even cry for help,
for he has stopped my prayer.
9 He bars my way with stones
and left me helplessly alone.
10 Like a bear lying in ambush,
like a lion waiting for its prey,
11 he lunged at me, tore me to pieces,
and left me alone and helpless.
12 Then he drew his bow
and aimed his arrow at me.
13 He pierced my sides
with arrows from his quiver.
14 I have become a laughingstock,
a topic of songs for all the peoples.
15 He has sated me with bitter food;
he has made me drunk with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel
and thrown me down in the ashes.
17 He has deprived my soul of peace,
till I have forgotten happiness.
18 Now I say, “Gone are my hopes
and all my confidence in the Lord.”
19 Recalling my affliction and home less ness is wormwood and gall.
20 Thinking it over and over
makes my soul downcast.
21 But this, when I ponder,
is what gives me hope:
22 Yahweh’s love abides unceasingly.
His compassion is never consumed;
23 every morning it is renewed.
And his love remains ever faithful.
24 “My portion is Yahweh,” says my soul.
“On him shall I rely.”
25 Yahweh is good to those who hope in him,
to souls who search for him.
26 It is rewarding to wait in silence
for the Lord’s salvation.
27 It is good for man to bear the yoke from his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when Yahweh fastens the yoke on him.
29 Let him put his lips to the dust
there may still be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to be struck;
let him be overwhelmed with insult.
31 For it is not forever
that the Lord rejects man.
32 In the abundance of his love
he punishes, but has compassion.
33 For he does not willingly abase
or afflict the human race.
34 To trample underfoot
the prisoners of the land,
35 to deny a man his rights
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to deprive people of justice –
the Lord does not approve of this.
37 Who can command and execute
what the Lord has not willed?
38 From the mouth of the Most High
come all things, good or bad.
39 Why should then mortals complain
when punished for their sin?
40 Let us search and examine our ways and return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven, and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven us.
43 Clothed in anger you have pursued us without mercy.
44 You have wrapped yourself in clouds
so that no prayer can reach you.
45 You have reduced us to dust
and refuse among the nations.
46 Our foes have opened wide
their mouths against us.
47 Terror is our lot:
pitfall, ruin and desolation.
48 Great is my grief over the down fall
of the daughter of my people.
49 No respite, no relief,
as my tears flow ceaselessly,
50 till the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 My soul will grieve in torment
for the women of my city.
52 Like a bird I have been hunted
by my foes without cause.
53 They flung me alive into a pit
and cast stones at me.
54 As the waters closed over my head,
I thought I would never again live.
55 Out of the depths I called
on your name, O Yahweh.
56 You heard; you have not been deaf
to my cry for relief.
57 When I called, you even came near
and told me not to fear.
58 O Lord, you took up my case
and redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong they did me,
uphold my cause!
60 You have seen how resentfully
they plotted to destroy my life.
61 O Yahweh, you have heard the in sults
hurled at me, their insidious plots;
62 You have been aware of their thoughts,
their muttering against me all day long.
63 Look at them – sitting or standing –
mocking me in their song!
64 Repay them as they deserve,
according to their deeds, O Yah weh.
65 Harden their hearts;
hold them under your curse.
66 Pursue and destroy them in fury
from under the heavens, O Yahweh.