Lamentations Chapter 3 / BBE

The Bible in Basic English
Lamentations, Chapter 3

   1: I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.
   2: By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.
   3: Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.
   4: My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.
   5: He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.
   6: He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.
   7: He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.
   8: Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.
   9: He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.
   10: He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.
   11: By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.
   12: With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.
   13: He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.
   14: I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.
   15: He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.
   16: By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.
   17: My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.
   18: And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.
   19: Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.
   20: My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me.
   21: This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.
   22: It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.
   23: They are new every morning; great is your good faith.
   24: I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.
   25: The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.
   26: It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
   27: It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.
   28: Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.
   29: Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.
   30: Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.
   31: For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.
   32: For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.
   33: For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
   34: In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
   35: In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.
   36: In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.
   37: Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?
   38: Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
   39: What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?
   40: Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord;
   41: Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
   42: We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness.
   43: Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity;
   44: Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.
   45: You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.
   46: The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.
   47: Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.
   48: Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
   49: My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,
   50: Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.
   51: The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
   52: They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;
   53: They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.
   54: Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off.
   55: I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.
   56: My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.
   57: You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.
   58: O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.
   59: O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause.
   60: You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.
   61: Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me;
   62: The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.
   63: Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.
   64: You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.
   65: You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.
   66: You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.

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