| 3:1 | I'm the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of GOD's anger. |
| 3:2 | He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness. |
| 3:3 | Yes, he's given me the back of his hand over and over and over again. |
| 3:4 | He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones. |
| 3:5 | He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times. |
| 3:6 | He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin. |
| 3:7 | He shuts me in so I'll never get out, manacles my hands, shackles my feet. |
| 3:8 | Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locks up my prayers and throws away the key. |
| 3:9 | He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. He's got me cornered. |
| 3:10 | He's a prowling bear tracking me down, a lion in hiding ready to pounce. |
| 3:11 | He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces. When he finished, there was nothing left of me. |
| 3:12 | He took out his bow and arrows and used me for target practice. |
| 3:13 | He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver. |
| 3:14 | Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads. |
| 3:15 | He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks. |
| 3:16 | He ground my face into the gravel. He pounded me into the mud. |
| 3:17 | I gave up on life altogether. I've forgotten what the good life is like. |
| 3:18 | I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished. GOD is a lost cause." |
| 3:19 | I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. |
| 3:20 | I remember it all--oh, how well I remember--the feeling of hitting the bottom. |
| 3:21 | But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: |
| 3:22 | GOD's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. |
| 3:23 | They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! |
| 3:24 | I'm sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left. |
| 3:25 | GOD proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. |
| 3:26 | It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from GOD. |
| 3:27 | It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times. |
| 3:28 | When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. |
| 3:29 | Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. |
| 3:30 | Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst. |
| 3:31 | Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return. |
| 3:32 | If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense. |
| 3:33 | He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way: |
| 3:34 | Stomping down hard on luckless prisoners, |
| 3:35 | Refusing justice to victims in the court of High God, |
| 3:36 | Tampering with evidence--the Master does not approve of such things. |
| 3:37 | Who do you think "spoke and it happened"? It's the Master who gives such orders. |
| 3:38 | Doesn't the High God speak everything, good things and hard things alike, into being? |
| 3:39 | And why would anyone gifted with life complain when punished for sin? |
| 3:40 | Let's take a good look at the way we're living and reorder our lives under GOD. |
| 3:41 | Let's lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time, praying to God in heaven: |
| 3:42 | "We've been contrary and willful, and you haven't forgiven. |
| 3:43 | "You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back. You chased us and cut us down without mercy. |
| 3:44 | You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds so no prayers could get through. |
| 3:45 | You treated us like dirty dishwater, threw us out in the backyard of the nations. |
| 3:46 | "Our enemies shout abuse, their mouths full of derision, spitting invective. |
| 3:47 | We've been to hell and back. We've nowhere to turn, nowhere to go. |
| 3:48 | Rivers of tears pour from my eyes at the smashup of my dear people. |
| 3:49 | "The tears stream from my eyes, an artesian well of tears, |
| 3:50 | Until you, GOD, look down from on high, look and see my tears. |
| 3:51 | When I see what's happened to the young women in the city, the pain breaks my heart. |
| 3:52 | "Enemies with no reason to be enemies hunted me down like a bird. |
| 3:53 | They threw me into a pit, then pelted me with stones. |
| 3:54 | Then the rains came and filled the pit. The water rose over my head. I said, 'It's all over.' |
| 3:55 | "I called out your name, O GOD, called from the bottom of the pit. |
| 3:56 | You listened when I called out, 'Don't shut your ears! Get me out of here! Save me!' |
| 3:57 | You came close when I called out. You said, 'It's going to be all right.' |
| 3:58 | "You took my side, Master; you brought me back alive! |
| 3:59 | GOD, you saw the wrongs heaped on me. Give me my day in court! |
| 3:60 | Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes, their plots to destroy me. |
| 3:61 | "You heard, GOD, their vicious gossip, their behind-my-back plots to ruin me. |
| 3:62 | They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief, hatching out malice, day after day after day. |
| 3:63 | Sitting down or standing up--just look at them!--they mock me with vulgar doggerel. |
| 3:64 | "Make them pay for what they've done, GOD. Give them their just deserts. |
| 3:65 | Break their miserable hearts! Damn their eyes! |
| 3:66 | Get good and angry. Hunt them down. Make a total demolition here under your heaven!" |
Lamentations 3 - The Message Bible
