Lamentations 3

The poet speaks as one who has suffered under God's wrath — driven into darkness, walled in, and torn apart. Yet in the middle of his despair he declares that it is because of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, that His compassions are new every morning, and that great is His faithfulness. He calls the people to examine their ways and return to the LORD, then cries out for God to judge his enemies.

v	King James Version	Modern English
1	I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.	I am the man who has seen suffering under the rod of God's wrath.
2	He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.	He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light.
3	Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.	He has turned His hand against me again and again, all day long.
4	My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.	He has worn away my flesh and skin. He has broken my bones.
5	He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.	He has built up walls against me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6	He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.	He has made me sit in darkness like those who have been dead for ages.
7	He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.	He has walled me in so I cannot escape. He has weighed me down with heavy chains.
8	Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.	Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9	He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.	He has blocked my paths with cut stone. He has made my roads twisted and impassable.
10	He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.	He has been to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion lurking in hiding.
11	He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.	He dragged me off my path and tore me apart. He has left me desolate.
12	He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.	He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrows.
13	He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.	He drove the arrows from His quiver deep into my body.
14	I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.	I have become the mockery of all my people — their song all day long.
15	He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.	He has filled me with bitterness. He has made me drink deeply of wormwood.
16	He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.	He has ground my teeth on gravel. He has pressed my face into the dust.
17	And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.	You have banished my soul from peace. I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18	And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:	I said, "My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD."
19	Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.	I remember my suffering and my wandering — the bitterness and the poison.
20	My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.	My soul remembers and is brought low within me.
21	This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.	Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22	It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.	It is because of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed. His compassions never fail.
23	They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.	They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.
24	The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.	"The LORD is my portion," says my soul. "Therefore I will hope in Him."
25	The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.	The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him.
26	It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.	It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27	It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.	It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
28	He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.	Let Him sit alone in silence when God lays it on Him.
29	He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.	Let Him put His face in the dust — there may yet be hope.
30	He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.	Let Him offer His cheek to one who strikes Him. Let Him be filled with disgrace.
31	For the Lord will not cast off for ever:	For the Lord will not reject forever.
32	But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.	Even if He brings grief, He will show compassion — so great is His mercy.
33	For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.	For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.
34	To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,	He does not want to crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth
35	To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,	or to deny a man his rights before the Most High
36	To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.	or to deprive a man of justice. The Lord does not approve of these things.
37	Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?	Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not commanded it?
38	Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?	Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both disaster and good things come?
39	Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?	Why should any living person complain when punished for His sins?
40	Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.	Let us examine and test our ways and turn back to the LORD.
41	Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.	Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.
42	We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.	We have sinned and rebelled. You have not forgiven.
43	Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.	You wrapped Yourself in anger and pursued us. You have killed without pity.
44	Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.	You covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer could pass through.
45	Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.	You have made us filth and garbage among the peoples.
46	All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.	All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47	Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.	We have experienced panic and the pit — devastation and destruction.
48	Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.	Rivers of tears flow from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49	Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,	My eyes will keep flowing without stopping
50	Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.	until the LORD looks down and sees from heaven.
51	Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.	My eyes bring me pain because of all the women of my city.
52	Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.	My enemies hunted me relentlessly like a bird — though I had done nothing wrong.
53	They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.	They threw me alive into a pit and dropped a stone on top of me.
54	Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.	The waters closed over my head. I said, "I am finished."
55	I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.	I called on Your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit.
56	Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.	You heard my voice. Do not hide Your ear from my cry for relief, from my plea.
57	Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.	You came near when I called on You. You said, "Do not be afraid."
58	O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.	O Lord, You have taken up my cause. You have reclaimed my life.
59	O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.	O LORD, You have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause.
60	Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.	You have seen all their acts of revenge, all their schemes against me.
61	Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;	You have heard their insults, O LORD, all their plots against me —
62	The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.	the words of those who rise against me, their schemes against me all day long.
63	Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.	Whether they sit or stand, look — I am the subject of their mocking songs.
64	Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.	Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to what their hands have done.
65	Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.	Give them hearts that are hardened. Let Your curse be on them.
66	Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.	Pursue them in anger and wipe them out from under the heavens of the LORD.