1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. 3 Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long. 4 He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones. 5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead. 7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy. 8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. 9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked. 10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding. 11 He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate. 12 He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys. 14 I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long. 15 He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood. 16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes. 17 You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity. 18 I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.” 19 Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness. 20 My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me. 21 This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. 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. Great is your faithfulness. 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 soul who seeks him. 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. 28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him. 29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope. 30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach. 31 For the Lord will not cast off forever. 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 willingly, nor grieve the children of men. 34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, 35 to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High, 36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve. 37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it? 38 Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High? 39 Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? 40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh. 41 Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. 42 “We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned. 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. 45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples. 46 “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. 47 Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.” 48 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission, 50 until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven. 51 My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city. 52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause. 53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me. 54 Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.” 55 I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon. 56 You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.” 57 You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.” 58 Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life. 59 Yahweh, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause. 60 You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me. 61 You have heard their reproach, Yahweh, and all their plans against me, 62 the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long. 63 You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song. 64 You will pay them back, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands. 65 You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them. 66 You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.
Lamentations · World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
Lamentations 3 World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- "World English Bible" is a trademark of eBible.org; the text is shown unaltered.
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)