The Lamentations of Jeremiah

I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.

Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.

He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.

He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.

In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.

He has walled [me] in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.

He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.

He is to me like a bear lying in wait, [Like] a lion in secret places.

He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.

He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.

He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their [mocking] song all the day.

He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.

And He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.

And my soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.

So I say, "My strength has perished, And [so has] my hope from the Lord."

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.

Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.

This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

[They] are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

[It is] good that he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord.

[It is] good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.

Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid [it] on him.

Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope.

Let him give his cheek to the smiter; Let him be filled with reproach.

For the Lord will not reject forever,

For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.

For He does not afflict willingly, Or grieve the sons of men.

To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,

To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,

To defraud a man in his lawsuit - Of these things the Lord does not approve.

Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded [it]?

[Is it] not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?

Why should [any] living mortal, or [any] man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?

Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the Lord.

We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;

We have transgressed and rebelled, Thou hast not pardoned.

Thou hast covered [Thyself] with anger And pursued us; Thou hast slain [and] hast not spared.

Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.

[Mere] offscouring and refuse Thou hast made us In the midst of the peoples.

All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;

My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

My eyes pour down unceasingly, Without stopping,

Until the Lord looks down And sees from heaven.

My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.

My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird;

They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.

Waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!"

I called on Thy name, O Lord, Out of the lowest pit.

Thou hast heard my voice, "Do not hide Thine ear from my [prayer for] relief, From my cry for help."

Thou didst draw near when I called on Thee; Thou didst say, "Do not fear!"

O Lord, Thou didst plead my soul's cause; Thou hast redeemed my life.

O Lord, Thou hast seen my oppression; Judge my case.

Thou hast seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me.

Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, All their schemes against me.

The lips of my assailants and their whispering [Are] against me all day long.

Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.

Thou wilt recompense them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands.

Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, Thy curse will be on them.