Lamentations 3
Hope of Relief through
God's Mercy |
1 |
I am the man that hath seen
affliction by the rod of his wrath.
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2 |
He hath led me, and brought me
into darkness, but not into light.
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3 |
Surely against me is he turned;
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he turneth his hand against me all the
day. |
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4 |
My flesh and my skin hath he made
old;
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5 |
He hath builded against me,
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and compassed me with gall and
travail. |
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6 |
He hath set me in dark places,
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as they that be dead of
old. |
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7 |
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot
get out:
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he hath made my chain
heavy. |
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8 |
Also when I cry and shout,
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he shutteth out my
prayer. |
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9 |
He hath inclosed my ways with hewn
stone;
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he hath made my paths
crooked. |
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10 |
He was unto me as a bear
lying in wait,
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and as a lion in secret
places. |
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11 |
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled
me in pieces:
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he hath made me
desolate. |
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12 |
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a
mark for the arrow.
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13 |
He hath caused the arrows of his quiver
to enter into my reins.
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14 |
I was a derision to all my people;
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and their song all the
day. |
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15 |
He hath filled me with bitterness,
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he hath made me drunken with
wormwood. |
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16 |
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel
stones,
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he hath covered me with
ashes. |
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17 |
And thou hast removed my soul far off
from peace:
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18 |
And I said, My strength and my hope is
perished from the LORD:
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19 |
remembering mine affliction and my
misery, the wormwood and the gall.
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20 |
My soul hath them still in
remembrance, and is humbled in me.
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21 |
This I recall to my mind,
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22 |
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed,
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because his compassions fail
not. |
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23 |
They are new every morning:
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great is thy
faithfulness. |
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24 |
The LORD is my portion, saith my soul;
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therefore will I hope in
him. |
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25 |
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him,
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to the soul that seeketh
him. |
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26 |
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
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27 |
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
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28 |
He sitteth alone and keepeth silence,
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because he hath borne it upon
him. |
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29 |
He putteth his mouth in the dust;
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if so be there may be
hope. |
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30 |
He giveth his cheek to him that
smiteth him:
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he is filled full with
reproach. |
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31 |
For the Lord will not cast off for
ever:
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32 |
but though he cause grief, yet will he
have compassion
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according to the multitude of his
mercies. |
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33 |
For he doth not afflict willingly,
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nor grieve the children of
men. |
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34 |
To crush under his feet all the prisoners
of the earth,
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35 |
to turn aside the right of a man before
the face of the Most High,
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36 |
to subvert a man in his cause,
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37 |
Who is he that saith, and
it cometh to pass,
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when the Lord commandeth it not? |
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38 |
Out of the mouth of the Most High
proceedeth not evil and good?
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39 |
Wherefore doth a living man complain,
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a man for the punishment of his
sins? |
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40 |
Let us search and try our ways,
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and turn again to the LORD. |
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41 |
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
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42 |
We have transgressed and have
rebelled:
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43 |
Thou hast covered with anger, and
persecuted us:
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thou hast slain, thou hast not
pitied. |
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44 |
Thou hast covered thyself with a
cloud,
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that our prayer should not pass
through. |
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45 |
Thou hast made us as the
offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
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46 |
All our enemies have opened their mouths
against us.
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47 |
Fear and a snare is come upon us,
desolation and destruction.
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48 |
Mine eye runneth down with rivers of
water
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for the destruction of the daughter of my
people. |
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49 |
Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not,
without any intermission,
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50 |
till the LORD look
down, and behold from heaven.
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51 |
Mine eye affecteth mine heart,
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because of all the daughters of my
city. |
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52 |
Mine enemies chased me sore,
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like a bird, without
cause. |
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53 |
They have cut off my life in the
dungeon,
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and cast a stone upon
me. |
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54 |
Waters flowed over mine head;
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then I said, I am cut
off. |
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55 |
I called upon thy name, O LORD,
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56 |
Thou hast heard my voice:
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hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my
cry. |
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57 |
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee:
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58 |
O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of
my soul;
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thou hast redeemed my
life. |
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59 |
O LORD, thou hast
seen my wrong:
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60 |
Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
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61 |
Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD,
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and all their imaginations against
me; |
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62 |
the lips of those that rose up against
me,
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and their device against me all the
day. |
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63 |
Behold their sitting down, and their
rising up;
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64 |
Render unto them a recompense, O LORD,
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according to the work of their
hands. |
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65 |
Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto
them.
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66 |
Persecute and destroy them in anger from
under the heavens of the LORD.
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