Lam Lamentations, chapter Book of Lamentations, chapter 3
The Prophet’s Afflictions
I3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, each 3–verse stanza beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath.Ezk 7:10
He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness instead of light.Jer 13:16
Indeed, He keeps turning His hand
against me all day long.Job 19:21
He has worn away my flesh and skin;
He has shattered my bones.
He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.Jer 9:15
He has made me dwell in darkness
like those dead for ages.Psa 143:3
He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
He has weighed me down with chains.Job 19:8
Even when I cry out and plead for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
He has barred my ways with cut stones;
He has made my paths crooked.Hos 2:6
He is a bear lying in wait,
a lion hiding in ambush.Hos 5:14; Hos 13:7
He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces;
He left me without help.
He bent His bow
and set me as the target for His arrow.Job 16:12
He pierced my kidneys
with His arrows.
I am a laughingstock to all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.Job 30:9
He has filled me with bitterness;
He has intoxicated me with wormwood.Job 9:18
He has ground my teeth with gravel
and trampled me in the dust.Pro 20:17
My soul has been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
So I say, “My strength has perished,
along with my hope from the LORD.”Jer 17:13
The Prophet’s Hope
Remember my affliction and wandering,
the wormwood and the gall.
Surely my soul remembers
and is humbled within me.Mrk 15:23
Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the loving devotion3:22 Forms of the Hebrew chesed are translated here and in most cases throughout the Scriptures as loving devotion; the range of meaning includes love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and mercy, as well as loyalty to a covenant. of the LORD we are not consumed,
for His mercies never fail.Neh 9:31; Psa 86:13; Jhn 3:16
They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness!Psa 138:8
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”Psa 16:5; Jer 10:16
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.Psa 34:8; Hab 2:3
It is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is still young.Psa 119:71
Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it upon him.Psa 39:9; Psa 77:10
Let him bury his face in the dust—
perhaps there is still hope.
Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him;
let him be filled with reproach.Mat 5:39
For the Lord will not
cast us off forever.Psa 77:7
Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion
according to His abundant loving devotion.Psa 30:5; Isa 54:7; Mic 7:18
For He does not willingly afflict
or grieve the sons of men.
To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the land,
to deny a man justice
before the Most High,
to subvert a man in his lawsuit—
of these the Lord does not approve.
God’s Justice
Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has ordained it?
Do not both adversity and good
come from the mouth of the Most High?Jhn 1:3
Why should any mortal man complain,
in view of his sins?Jer 30:15; Mat 7:3
Let us examine and test our ways,
and turn back to the LORD.Jer 3:23; 1Co 11:28
Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
“We have sinned and rebelled;
You have not forgiven.”Dan 9:5
You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;
You have killed without pity.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud
that no prayer can pass through.
You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.1Co 4:13
All our enemies
open their mouths against us.
Panic and pitfall have come upon us —
devastation and destruction.Isa 24:17
Streams of tears flow from my eyes
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.Jer 14:17
My eyes overflow unceasingly,
without relief,
until the LORD
looks down from heaven and sees.Psa 80:14
My eyes bring grief to my soul
because of all the daughters of my city.Lam 1:16
Without cause my enemies
hunted me like a bird.Jer 12:9
They dropped me alive into a pit
and cast stones upon me.Jer 37:15
The waters flowed over my head,
and I thought I was going to die.
I called on Your name, O LORD,
out of the depths of the Pit.Psa 130:1
You heard my plea:
“Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
You drew near when I called on You;
You said, “Do not be afraid.”
You defend my cause, O Lord;
You redeem my life.
You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me;
vindicate my cause!
You have seen all their malice,
all their plots against me.
O LORD, You have heard their insults,
all their plots against me —
the slander and murmuring of my assailants
against me all day long.
When they sit and when they rise,
see how they mock me in song.
You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,
according to the work of their hands.Psa 28:4
Put a veil of anguish over their hearts;
may Your curse be upon them!
You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them
from under Your heavens, O LORD.Psa 79:6