Lamentations 3:1-20

1This 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.

2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;

3indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.

4He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.

5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

6He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.

7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.

8Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.

9He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.

10Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,

11he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.

12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.

13He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.

14I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

15He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.

16He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.

17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD .”

19I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

20I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.