Lamentations
Chapter 3
A1I am a man who has known calamity from the rod of his wrath.
He has driven and brought me into darkness, not into the light.
He turns his hand against me alone, all day long, again and again.
B4He has worn away my flesh and skin; he has broken all my bones.
He assails me and surrounds me with tribulation and bitterness.
He leaves me to dwell in darkness, like those who have long been dead.
G7He has walled me in without escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
I could not even cry for help, for he has stopped my prayer.
He bars my way with stones and left me helplessly alone.
D10Like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion waiting for its prey,
he lunged at me, tore me to pieces, and left me alone and helpless.
Then he drew his bow and aimed his arrow at me.
H13He pierced my sides with arrows from his quiver.
I have become a laughingstock, a topic of songs for all the people.
He has sated me with bitter food; he has made me drunk with wormwood.
W16He has broken my teeth with gravel and thrown me down in the ashes.
He has deprived my soul of peace, till I have forgotten happiness.
Now I say, “Gone are my hopes and all my confidence in the Lord.”
Z19Recalling my affliction and homelessness is wormwood and gall.
Thinking it over and over makes my soul downcast.
But this, when I ponder, is what gives me hope:
H22The Lord’s love abides unceasingly. His compassion is never consumed;
every morning it is renewed. And his love remains ever faithful.
“My portion is the Lord,” says my soul. “On him shall I rely.”
T25The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to souls who search for him.
It is rewarding to wait in silence for the Lord’s salvation.
It is good for man to bear the yoke from his youth.
Y28Let him sit alone in silence when the Lord fastens the yoke on him.
Let him put his lips to the dust there may still be hope.
Let him offer his cheek to be struck; let him be overwhelmed with insult.
K31For it is not forever that the Lord rejects man.
In the abundance of his love he punishes but has compassion.
For he does not willingly abase or afflict the human race.
L34To trample underfoot the prisoners of the land,
to deny a man his rights in the presence of the Most High,
to deprive people of justice—the Lord does not approve of this.
M37Who can command and execute what the Lord has not willed?
From the mouth of the Most High come all things, good or bad.
Why then, should mortals complain when punished for their sin?
N40Let us search and examine our ways and return to the Lord.
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven, and say:
We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us.
S43Clothed in anger, you have pursued us without mercy.
You have wrapped yourself in clouds so that no prayer can reach you.
You have reduced us to dust and refuse among the nations.
P46Our foes have opened wide their mouths against us.
Terror is our lot: pitfall, ruin, and desolation.
Great is my grief over the downfall of the daughter of my people.
No respite, no relief, as my tears flow ceaselessly,
till the Lord looks down from heaven and sees.
My soul will grieve in torment for the women of my city.
S52Like a bird, I have been hunted by my foes without cause.
They flung me alive into a pit and cast stones at me.
As the waters closed over my head, I thought I would never again live.
W55Out of the depths I called on your name, O Lord.
You heard; you have not been deaf to my cry for relief.
When I called, you even came near and told me not to fear.
R58O Lord, you took up my case and redeemed my life.
You have seen the wrong they did me, uphold my cause!
You have seen how resentfully they plotted to destroy my life.
S61O Lord, you have heard the insults hurled at me, their insidious plots;
You have been aware of their thoughts, their muttering against me all day long.
Look at them—sitting or standing—mocking me in their song!
T64Repay them as they deserve, according to their deeds, O Lord.
Harden their hearts; hold them under your curse.
Pursue and destroy them in fury from under the heavens, O Lord.
Commentaries
Third Lament.
The third lamentation is a perfect acrostic; unlike the previous ones, where each stanza started with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet, here, each letter is repeated in all three lines of each verse. This pattern appears only one other time in the Bible, in Psalm 119. The structure can be outlined as follows: personal experience of pain (1-20), hope in God’s mercy (21-39), and personal and collective prayer (40-66). The main theme of the third lament remains consistent: God punishes sins justly, but he is also the only one who can save.
The fact that this lament is written almost entirely in the first-person singular has divided researchers’ opinions on the subject: Is it the prophet Jeremiah speaking? Is it Zion personified? Is it King Jehoiachin or Zedekiah? Whoever it is, it is the specific person who best and most deeply expresses the pain and supplication, the acknowledgment of his sins, his hope in divine mercy, his own being, and his belonging to a people.