Lamentations 3:1-20 NIV

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Lamentations 3:1-20

This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter. I am the man who has seen affliction

by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.

He has driven me away and made me walk

in darkness rather than light;

indeed, he has turned his hand against me

again and again, all day long.

He has made my skin and my flesh grow old

and has broken my bones.

He has besieged me and surrounded me

with bitterness and hardship.

He has made me dwell in darkness

like those long dead.

He has walled me in so I cannot escape;

he has weighed me down with chains.

Even when I call out or cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer.

He has barred my way with blocks of stone;

he has made my paths crooked.

Like a bear lying in wait,

like a lion in hiding,

he dragged me from the path and mangled me

and left me without help.

He drew his bow

and made me the target for his arrows.

He pierced my heart

with arrows from his quiver.

I became the laughingstock of all my people;

they mock me in song all day long.

He has filled me with bitter herbs

and given me gall to drink.

He has broken my teeth with gravel;

he has trampled me in the dust.

I have been deprived of peace;

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

So I say, “My splendor is gone

and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

I remember my affliction and my wandering,

the bitterness and the gall.

I well remember them,

and my soul is downcast within me.

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