Lamentations · Unlocked Literal Bible
Lamentations 3 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 I am a man who has seen misery under the rod of Yahweh's fury.
1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He drove me away and caused me to walk in darkness rather than light.
2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3 Surely he turned his hand against me again and again, the whole day long.
3 Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4 He made my flesh and my skin waste away; he broke my bones.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5 He built up siege works against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He made me live in dark places, like those who died long ago.
6 He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7 He built a wall around me and I cannot escape. He made my chains heavy
7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8 and though I call out and cry for help, he shut out my prayer.
8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He blocked my path with a wall of hewn stone; he made my paths crooked.
9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is like a bear waiting to ambush me, a lion in hiding;
10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11 he turned aside my paths, he has made me desolate.
11 He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12 He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
12 He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He pierced my kidneys with the arrows of his quiver.
13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14 I became a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunting all day long.
14 I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15 He filled me with bitterness and forced me to drink wormwood.
15 He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind with gravel, and he made me cower in the ashes.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17 My soul is deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.
17 You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18 So I say, “My endurance has perished and so has my hope in Yahweh.”
18 I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.”
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and bitterness.
19 Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20 I continually remember it and I am bowed down within me.
20 My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21 But I call this to mind and therefore I have hope:
21 This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22 The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases and his compassions never end,
22 It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail.
23 they are new every morning; your faithfulness is great.
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 “Yahweh is my inheritance,” I said, therefore I will hope in him.
24 “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the one who seeks him.
25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good to wait silently for the salvation of Yahweh.
26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, when it is laid upon him.
28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him, and let him be filled to the full with reproach.
30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31 For the Lord will not reject us forever,
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 but though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
32 For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33 For he does not afflict from his heart or torment the children of mankind.
33 For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,
35 to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 to deny justice to a person—the Lord would not approve such things!
36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord decreed it?
37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and the good come?
38 Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39 How can any person alive complain? How can a person complain about the punishment for his sins?
39 Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to Yahweh.
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in the heavens:
41 Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
42 “We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us, you have killed and you have not spared.
43 “You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us like filthy scum and refuse among the nations.
45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
46 All our enemies curse us,
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us, ruin and destruction.
47 Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
48 My eyes flow with streams of tears because my people are destroyed.
48 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes will shed tears without ceasing, without relief,
49 My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
50 until Yahweh from heaven looks down and sees.
50 until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes cause me grief because of all the daughters of my city.
51 My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52 I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies; they hunted me without a reason.
52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53 They cast me into a pit and they threw a stone on me,
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
54 and they caused waters to overflow, covering my head. I said, 'I have been cut off!'
54 Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
55 I called on your name, Yahweh, from the depths of the pit.
55 I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon.
56 You heard my voice when I said, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help.'
56 You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
57 You came near on the day I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear.'
57 You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 Lord, you defended my case, you saved my life!
58 Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
59 Yahweh, you have seen the wrong they have done to me; judge my case.
59 Yahweh, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60 You have seen their insults, all their plots against me—
60 You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
61 You have heard their scorn, Yahweh, and all their plans regarding me.
61 You have heard their reproach, Yahweh, and all their plans against me,
62 The lips and the accusations of my enemies come against me all the day.
62 the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63 Look at how they sit and then rise up; they mock me with their songs.
63 You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64 Pay back to them, Yahweh, according to what they have done.
64 You will pay them back, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands.
65 You will let their hearts be shameless! May your condemnation be upon them!
65 You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
66 You pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens, Yahweh!”
66 You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.
Cross references (65)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 88:7; Job 19:21; Psalm 88:15–16; Isaiah 53:3; Psalm 71:20
- 2 Job 30:26; Isaiah 59:9; Amos 5:18–20; Jeremiah 4:23; Jude 13
- 3 Isaiah 63:10; Lamentations 2:4–7; Deuteronomy 29:20; Isaiah 1:25; Isaiah 5:25
- 4 Psalm 51:8; Isaiah 38:13; Psalm 38:2–8; Jeremiah 50:17; Psalm 31:9–10
- 5 Lamentations 3:19; Jeremiah 23:15; Job 19:8; Lamentations 3:7–9; Jeremiah 8:14
- 6 Psalm 88:5–6; Psalm 143:3; Psalm 143:7
- 7 Job 19:8; Job 3:23; Jeremiah 38:6; Psalm 88:8; Jeremiah 40:4
- 8 Job 30:20; Psalm 22:2; Job 19:7; Matthew 27:46; Lamentations 3:44
- 9 Isaiah 63:17; Hosea 2:6; Isaiah 30:28; Lamentations 3:11
- 10 Hosea 6:1; Psalm 10:9; Amos 5:18–20; Job 10:16; Hosea 5:14
- 11 Hosea 6:1; Job 16:12–13; Lamentations 1:13; Daniel 7:23; Jeremiah 19:8
- 12 Psalm 38:2; Job 7:20; Lamentations 2:4; Job 6:4; Psalm 7:12–13
- 13 Job 6:4; Deuteronomy 32:23; Job 41:28
- 14 Jeremiah 20:7; Lamentations 3:63; Psalm 22:6–7; Nehemiah 4:2–4; Psalm 123:3–4
- 15 Jeremiah 9:15; Lamentations 3:19; Ruth 1:20; Jeremiah 25:15–18; Isaiah 51:17–22
- 16 Proverbs 20:17; Jeremiah 6:26; Psalm 3:7; Psalm 58:6; Luke 11:11
- 17 Isaiah 59:11; Genesis 41:30; Lamentations 1:16; Isaiah 38:17; Jeremiah 8:15
- 18 Job 17:15; 1 Samuel 27:1; Ezekiel 37:11; Psalm 31:22; Psalm 116:11
- 19 Lamentations 3:15; Lamentations 3:5; Job 7:7; Psalm 89:50; Psalm 132:1
- 20 Psalm 42:5–6; Psalm 42:11; Job 21:6; Psalm 43:5; Psalm 146:8
- 21 Habakkuk 2:3; Psalm 130:7; Psalm 77:7–11; Lamentations 3:24–29; Psalm 119:81
- 22 Psalm 86:15; Luke 1:50; Nehemiah 9:31; Micah 7:18–19; Malachi 3:6
- 23 Hebrews 10:23; Psalm 30:5; Isaiah 33:2; Psalm 36:5; Psalm 89:33
- 24 Psalm 73:26; Psalm 16:5; Psalm 142:5; Lamentations 3:21; Psalm 33:18
- 25 Micah 7:7–8; Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 130:5–6; Lamentations 3:26; Psalm 37:34
- 26 Psalm 37:7; Psalm 37:34; Psalm 130:5; Genesis 49:18; Hebrews 10:35
- 27 Ecclesiastes 12:1; Matthew 11:29–30; Psalm 119:71; Psalm 94:12; Psalm 90:12
- 28 Jeremiah 15:17; Lamentations 2:10; Psalm 39:9; Psalm 102:7
- 29 Job 40:4; Luke 15:18–19; Jeremiah 31:17; Luke 18:13; Zephaniah 2:3
- 30 Isaiah 50:6; Job 16:10; Matthew 5:39; Matthew 26:67; 2 Corinthians 11:20
- 31 Psalm 94:14; Psalm 103:8–10; Psalm 77:7; Isaiah 54:7–10; Isaiah 57:16
- 32 Psalm 78:38; Psalm 30:5; Psalm 103:11; Hosea 11:8; Judges 10:16
- 33 Ezekiel 33:11; Ezekiel 18:32; Hebrews 12:9–10; Isaiah 28:21
- 34 Zechariah 9:11–12; Isaiah 51:22–23; Psalm 102:20; Jeremiah 51:33–36; Psalm 69:33
- 36 Isaiah 59:15; Habakkuk 1:13; Jeremiah 22:3; 2 Samuel 11:27
- 37 Psalm 33:9–11; Proverbs 16:9; Isaiah 46:10; Proverbs 19:21; Proverbs 21:30
- 38 Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6; Jeremiah 32:42; Job 2:10; Psalm 75:7
- 39 Proverbs 19:3; Micah 7:9; Jeremiah 30:15; Genesis 4:5–7; 2 Kings 3:13
- 40 2 Corinthians 13:5; Psalm 139:23–24; Joel 2:12–13; Psalm 4:4; Isaiah 55:7
- 41 Psalm 25:1; Psalm 28:2; Psalm 86:4; Psalm 143:6–8; 1 Thessalonians 2:8
- 42 Nehemiah 9:26; Jeremiah 5:7–9; Luke 15:18–19; Zechariah 1:5; 2 Kings 24:4
- 43 Lamentations 2:21; Lamentations 2:17; Lamentations 2:1–2; Lamentations 3:66; Psalm 83:15
- 44 Lamentations 3:8; Zechariah 7:13; Psalm 97:2; Jeremiah 15:1; Jeremiah 14:11
- 45 1 Corinthians 4:13; Lamentations 4:14–15; Deuteronomy 28:44; Deuteronomy 28:37; Lamentations 3:14
- 46 Lamentations 2:16; Psalm 22:6–8; Psalm 79:10; Exodus 11:7; Psalm 44:13–14
- 47 Isaiah 24:17–18; Isaiah 51:19; Jeremiah 48:43–44; Lamentations 1:4; Lamentations 1:13
- 48 Jeremiah 9:18; Lamentations 2:11; Jeremiah 9:1; Psalm 119:136; Lamentations 1:16
- 49 Jeremiah 14:17; Psalm 77:2; Lamentations 1:16
- 50 Isaiah 63:15; Psalm 80:14–16; Lamentations 5:1; Psalm 102:19–20; Lamentations 2:20
- 51 Jeremiah 19:9; Luke 19:41–44; 1 Samuel 30:3–4; Lamentations 2:21; Jeremiah 14:16
- 52 Psalm 35:19; Psalm 35:7; Jeremiah 38:4–6; Psalm 69:4; John 15:25
- 53 Jeremiah 38:6; Daniel 6:17; Jeremiah 38:9; Jeremiah 37:16; Matthew 27:66
- 54 Jonah 2:3–5; Ezekiel 37:11; Psalm 18:4; Psalm 69:1–2; 2 Corinthians 1:8–10
- 55 Acts 16:24–28; Psalm 40:1–2; 2 Chronicles 33:11–12; Psalm 130:1–2; Jonah 2:2–4
- 56 Job 34:28; Isaiah 38:5; Psalm 55:1; Psalm 6:8–9; Psalm 34:6
- 57 James 4:8; Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah 58:9; Isaiah 41:14; Revelation 2:10
- 58 Psalms 34:22–35:1; Jeremiah 51:36; Psalm 103:4; Jeremiah 50:34; Psalm 71:23
- 59 Psalm 43:1; Psalm 9:4; Genesis 31:42; Psalm 26:1; 1 Peter 2:23
- 60 Jeremiah 11:19–20; Lamentations 3:59; Psalm 10:14
- 61 Lamentations 5:1; Psalm 89:50; Zephaniah 2:8; Psalm 74:18; Lamentations 3:30
- 62 Ezekiel 36:3; Psalm 59:7; Psalm 59:12; Psalm 140:3; Jeremiah 18:18
- 63 Psalm 139:2; Lamentations 3:14; Job 30:9
- 64 Psalm 28:4; Jeremiah 11:20; Revelation 6:10; 2 Timothy 4:14; Jeremiah 50:29
- 65 Isaiah 6:10; Deuteronomy 2:30; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Psalm 109:17–18; Deuteronomy 27:15–26
- 66 Psalm 8:3; Psalm 115:16; Lamentations 3:43; Deuteronomy 25:19; Jeremiah 10:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Again another Prophet says, They cut off My life in a dungeon, and cast a stone upon Me.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
To us who are (as Jeremiah saith), "prisoners of the earth," and covered with the denseness of carnal nature, this at all events is known, that as it is impossible for a man to step over his own shadow, however fast he may move (for the shadow will always move on as fast as it is being overtaken) or, as …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)