Lamentations:3-5

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* I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath . * He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light . * Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day . * He has aged my flesh and my skin , And broken my bones . * He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe . * He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago . * He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out ; He has made my chain heavy . * Even when I cry and shout , He shuts out my prayer . * He has blocked my ways with hewn stone ; He has made my paths crooked . * He has been to me a bear lying in wait , Like a lion in ambush . * He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces ; He has made me desolate . * He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow . * He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins . * I have become the ridicule of all my people -- Their taunting song all the day . * He has filled me with bitterness , He has made me drink wormwood . * He has also broken my teeth with gravel , And covered me with ashes . * You have moved my soul far from peace ; I have forgotten prosperity . * And I said , "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD ." * Remember my affliction and roaming , The wormwood and the gall . * My soul still remembers And sinks within me . * This I recall to my mind , Therefore I have hope . * Through the LORD 's mercies we are not consumed , Because His compassions fail not . * They are new every morning ; Great is Your faithfulness . * "The LORD is my portion ," says my soul , "Therefore I hope in Him !" * The LORD is good to those who wait for Him , To the soul who seeks Him . * It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD . * It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth . * Let him sit alone and keep silent , Because God has laid it on him ; * Let him put his mouth in the dust -- There may yet be hope . * Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him , And be full of reproach . * For the Lord will not cast off forever . * Though He causes grief , Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies . * For He does not afflict willingly , Nor grieve the children of men . * To crush under one 's feet All the prisoners of the earth , * To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High , * Or subvert a man in his cause -- The Lord does not approve . * Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass , When the Lord has not commanded it ? * Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed ? * Why should a living man complain , A man for the punishment of his sins ? * Let us search out and examine our ways , And turn back to the LORD ; * Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven . * We have transgressed and rebelled ; You have not pardoned . * You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us ; You have slain and not pitied . * You have covered Yourself with a cloud , That prayer should not pass through . * You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples . * All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us . * Fear and a snare have come upon us , Desolation and destruction . * My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people . * My eyes flow and do not cease , Without interruption , * Till the LORD from heaven Looks down and sees . * My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city . * My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird . * They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me . * The waters flowed over my head ; I said , "I am cut off !" * I called on Your name , O LORD , From the lowest pit . * You have heard my voice : "Do not hide Your ear From my sighing , from my cry for help ." * You drew near on the day I called on You , And said , "Do not fear !" * O Lord , You have pleaded the case for my soul ; You have redeemed my life . * O LORD , You have seen how I am wronged ; Judge my case . * You have seen all their vengeance , All their schemes against me . * You have heard their reproach , O LORD , All their schemes against me , * The lips of my enemies And their whispering against me all the day . * Look at their sitting down and their rising up ; I am their taunting song . * Repay them , O LORD , According to the work of their hands . * Give them a veiled heart ; Your curse be upon them ! * In Your anger , Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD . * How the gold has become dim ! How changed the fine gold ! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered At the head of every street . * The precious sons of Zion , Valuable as fine gold , How they are regarded as clay pots , The work of the hands of the potter ! * Even the jackals present their breasts To nurse their young ; But the daughter of my people is cruel , Like ostriches in the wilderness . * The tongue of the infant clings To the roof of its mouth for thirst ; The young children ask for bread , But no one breaks it for them . * Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets ; Those who were brought up in scarlet Embrace ash heaps . * The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom , Which was overthrown in a moment , With no hand to help her ! * Her Nazirites were brighter than snow And whiter than milk ; They were more ruddy in body than rubies , Like sapphire in their appearance . * Now their appearance is blacker than soot ; They go unrecognized in the streets ; Their skin clings to their bones , It has become as dry as wood . * Those slain by the sword are better off Than those who die of hunger ; For these pine away , Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field . * The hands of the compassionate women Have cooked their own children ; They became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people . * The LORD has fulfilled His fury , He has poured out His fierce anger . He kindled a fire in Zion , And it has devoured its foundations . * The kings of the earth , And all inhabitants of the world , Would not have believed That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem -- * Because of the sins of her prophets And the iniquities of her priests , Who shed in her midst The blood of the just . * They wandered blind in the streets ; They have defiled themselves with blood , So that no one would touch their garments . * They cried out to them , "Go away , unclean ! Go away , go away , Do not touch us !" When they fled and wandered , Those among the nations said , "They shall no longer dwell here ." * The face of the LORD scattered them ; He no longer regards them . The people do not respect the priests Nor show favor to the elders . * Still our eyes failed us , Watching vainly for our help ; In our watching we watched For a nation that could not save us . * They tracked our steps So that we could not walk in our streets . Our end was near ; Our days were over , For our end had come . * Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the heavens . They pursued us on the mountains And lay in wait for us in the wilderness . * The breath of our nostrils , the anointed of the LORD , Was caught in their pits , Of whom we said , "Under his shadow We shall live among the nations ." * Rejoice and be glad , O daughter of Edom , You who dwell in the land of Uz ! The cup shall also pass over to you And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked . * The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished , O daughter of Zion ; He will no longer send you into captivity . He will punish your iniquity , O daughter of Edom ; He will uncover your sins ! * Remember , O LORD , what has come upon us ; Look , and behold our reproach ! * Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens , And our houses to foreigners . * We have become orphans and waifs , Our mothers are like widows . * We pay for the water we drink , And our wood comes at a price . * They pursue at our heels ; We labor and have no rest . * We have given our hand to the Egyptians And the Assyrians , to be satisfied with bread . * Our fathers sinned and are no more , But we bear their iniquities . * Servants rule over us ; There is none to deliver us from their hand . * We get our bread at the risk of our lives , Because of the sword in the wilderness . * Our skin is hot as an oven , Because of the fever of famine . * They ravished the women in Zion , The maidens in the cities of Judah . * Princes were hung up by their hands , And elders were not respected . * Young men ground at the millstones ; Boys staggered under loads of wood . * The elders have ceased gathering at the gate , And the young men from their music . * The joy of our heart has ceased ; Our dance has turned into mourning . * The crown has fallen from our head . Woe to us , for we have sinned ! * Because of this our heart is faint ; Because of these things our eyes grow dim ; * Because of Mount Zion which is desolate , With foxes walking about on it . * You , O LORD , remain forever ; Your throne from generation to generation . * Why do You forget us forever , And forsake us for so long a time ? * Turn us back to You , O LORD , and we will be restored ; Renew our days as of old , * Unless You have utterly rejected us , And are very angry with us !

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