| 3:1 | א (Alef)* I am the man* who has experienced* affliction from the rod* of his wrath. |
| 3:2 | He drove me into captivity* and made me walk* in darkness and not light. |
| 3:3 | He repeatedly* attacks me, he turns his hand* against me all day long.* |
| 3:4 | ב (Bet) He has made my mortal skin* waste away; he has broken my bones. |
| 3:5 | He has besieged* and surrounded* me with bitter hardship.* |
| 3:6 | He has made me reside in deepest darkness* like those who died long ago. |
| 3:7 | ג (Gimel) He has walled me in* so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.* |
| 3:8 | Also, when I cry out desperately* for help,* he has shut out my prayer.* |
| 3:9 | He has blocked* every road I take* with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable.* |
| 3:10 | ד (Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush,* like a hidden lion* stalking its prey.* |
| 3:11 | He has obstructed my paths* and torn me to pieces;* he has made me desolate. |
| 3:12 | He drew* his bow and made me* the target for his arrow. |
| 3:13 | ה (He) He shot* his arrows* into my heart.* |
| 3:14 | I have become the laughingstock of all people,* their mocking song* all day long.* |
| 3:15 | He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness.* |
| 3:16 | ו (Vav) He ground* my teeth in gravel; he trampled* me in the dust. |
| 3:17 | I* am deprived* of peace;* I have forgotten what happiness* is. |
| 3:18 | So I said, “My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance* from the Lord.” |
| 3:19 | ז (Zayin) Remember* my impoverished and homeless condition,* which is a bitter poison.* |
| 3:20 | I* continually think about* this, and I* am depressed.* |
| 3:21 | But this I call* to mind;* therefore I have hope: |
| 3:22 | ח (Khet) The Lord’s loyal kindness* never ceases;* his compassions* never end. |
| 3:23 | They are fresh* every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!* |
| 3:24 | “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself,* so I will put my hope in him. |
| 3:25 | ט (Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust* in him, to the one* who seeks him. |
| 3:26 | It is good to wait patiently* for deliverance from the Lord.* |
| 3:27 | It is good for a man* to bear* the yoke* while he is young.* |
| 3:28 | י (Yod) Let a person* sit alone in silence, when the Lord* is disciplining him.* |
| 3:29 | Let him bury his face in the dust;* perhaps there is hope. |
| 3:30 | Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him;* let him have his fill of insults. |
| 3:31 | כ (Kaf) For the Lord* will not reject us forever.* |
| 3:32 | Though he causes us* grief, he then has compassion on us* according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.* |
| 3:33 | For he is not predisposed to afflict* or to grieve people.* |
| 3:34 | ל (Lamed) To crush underfoot all the earth’s prisoners,* |
| 3:35 | to deprive a person* of his rights* in the presence of the Most High, |
| 3:36 | to defraud a person in a lawsuit – the Lord* does not approve* of such things! |
| 3:37 | מ (Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled* unless the Lord* decreed it? |
| 3:38 | Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes – both calamity and blessing?* |
| 3:39 | Why should any living person* complain when punished for his sins?* |
| 3:40 | נ (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways,* and let us return to the Lord. |
| 3:41 | Let us lift up our hearts* and our hands to God in heaven: |
| 3:42 | “We* have blatantly rebelled;* you* have not forgiven.” |
| 3:43 | ס (Samek) You shrouded yourself* with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy. |
| 3:44 | You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. |
| 3:45 | You make us like filthy scum* in the estimation* of the nations. |
| 3:46 | פ (Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us;* |
| 3:47 | Panic and pitfall* have come upon us, devastation and destruction.* |
| 3:48 | Streams* of tears flow from my eyes* because my people* are destroyed.* |
| 3:49 | ע (Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes* and will not stop; there will be no break* |
| 3:50 | until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.* |
| 3:51 | What my eyes see* grieves me* – all the suffering of the daughters in my city.* |
| 3:52 | צ (Tsade) For no good reason* my enemies hunted me down* like a bird. |
| 3:53 | They shut me* up in a pit and threw stones at me. |
| 3:54 | The waters closed over my head; I thought* I was about to die.* |
| 3:55 | ק (Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit.* |
| 3:56 | You heard* my plea:* “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!”* |
| 3:57 | You came near* on the day I called to you; you said,* “Do not fear!” |
| 3:58 | ר (Resh) O Lord,* you championed* my cause,* you redeemed my life. |
| 3:59 | You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!* |
| 3:60 | You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.* |
| 3:61 | ש (Sin/Shin) You have heard* their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me. |
| 3:62 | My assailants revile and conspire* against me all day long. |
| 3:63 | Watch them from morning to evening;* I am the object of their mocking songs. |
| 3:64 | ת (Tav) Pay them back* what they deserve,* O Lord, according to what they* have done.* |
| 3:65 | Give them a distraught heart;* may your curse be on them! |
| 3:66 | Pursue them* in anger and eradicate them from under the Lord’s heaven. |
Lamentations 3 - NET Bible [draft]
