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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Lamentations 3 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/lamentations/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" 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id="topheading"><a href="../lamentations/2.htm" title="Lamentations 2">◄</a> Lamentations 3 <a href="../lamentations/4.htm" title="Lamentations 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/lamentations/3.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap">Hope in the LORD’s Faithfulness<a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-1.htm">1</a>I am the one who has seen the afflictionsthat come from the rod of the LORD’s anger. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-2.htm">2</a>He has led me into darkness,shutting out all light. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-3.htm">3</a>He has turned his hand against meagain and again, all day long. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-4.htm">4</a>He has made my skin and flesh grow old.He has broken my bones. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-5.htm">5</a>He has besieged and surrounded mewith anguish and distress. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-6.htm">6</a>He has buried me in a dark place,like those long dead. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-7.htm">7</a>He has walled me in, and I cannot escape.He has bound me in heavy chains. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-8.htm">8</a>And though I cry and shout,he has shut out my prayers. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-9.htm">9</a>He has blocked my way with a high stone wall;he has made my road crooked. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-10.htm">10</a>He has hidden like a bear or a lion,waiting to attack me. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-11.htm">11</a>He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces,leaving me helpless and devastated. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-12.htm">12</a>He has drawn his bowand made me the target for his arrows. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-13.htm">13</a>He shot his arrowsdeep into my heart. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-14.htm">14</a>My own people laugh at me.All day long they sing their mocking songs. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-15.htm">15</a>He has filled me with bitternessand given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-16.htm">16</a>He has made me chew on gravel.He has rolled me in the dust. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-17.htm">17</a>Peace has been stripped away,and I have forgotten what prosperity is. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-18.htm">18</a>I cry out, “My splendor is gone!Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!” <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-19.htm">19</a>The thought of my suffering and homelessnessis bitter beyond words.<a href="#footnotes">a</a> <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-20.htm">20</a>I will never forget this awful time,as I grieve over my loss. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-21.htm">21</a>Yet I still dare to hopewhen I remember this: <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-22.htm">22</a>The faithful love of the LORD never ends!<a href="#footnotes">b</a>His mercies never cease. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-23.htm">23</a>Great is his faithfulness;his mercies begin afresh each morning. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-24.htm">24</a>I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;therefore, I will hope in him!” <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-25.htm">25</a>The LORD is good to those who depend on him,to those who search for him. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-26.htm">26</a>So it is good to wait quietlyfor salvation from the LORD. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-27.htm">27</a>And it is good for people to submit at an early ageto the yoke of his discipline: <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-28.htm">28</a>Let them sit alone in silencebeneath the LORD’s demands. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-29.htm">29</a>Let them lie face down in the dust,for there may be hope at last. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-30.htm">30</a>Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike themand accept the insults of their enemies. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-31.htm">31</a>For no one is abandonedby the Lord forever. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-32.htm">32</a>Though he brings grief, he also shows compassionbecause of the greatness of his unfailing love. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-33.htm">33</a>For he does not enjoy hurting peopleor causing them sorrow. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-34.htm">34</a>If people crush underfootall the prisoners of the land, <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-35.htm">35</a>if they deprive others of their rightsin defiance of the Most High, <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-36.htm">36</a>if they twist justice in the courts—doesn’t the Lord see all these things? <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-37.htm">37</a>Who can command things to happenwithout the Lord’s permission? <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-38.htm">38</a>Does not the Most Highsend both calamity and good? <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-39.htm">39</a>Then why should we, mere humans, complainwhen we are punished for our sins? <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-40.htm">40</a>Instead, let us test and examine our ways.Let us turn back to the LORD. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-41.htm">41</a>Let us lift our hearts and handsto God in heaven and say, <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-42.htm">42</a>“We have sinned and rebelled,and you have not forgiven us. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-43.htm">43</a>“You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down,and slaughtered us without mercy. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-44.htm">44</a>You have hidden yourself in a cloudso our prayers cannot reach you. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-45.htm">45</a>You have discarded us as refuse and garbageamong the nations. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-46.htm">46</a>“All our enemieshave spoken out against us. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-47.htm">47</a>We are filled with fear,for we are trapped, devastated, and ruined.” <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-48.htm">48</a>Tears stream from my eyesbecause of the destruction of my people! <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-49.htm">49</a>My tears flow endlessly;they will not stop <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-50.htm">50</a>until the LORD looks downfrom heaven and sees. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-51.htm">51</a>My heart is breakingover the fate of all the women of Jerusalem. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-52.htm">52</a>My enemies, whom I have never harmed,hunted me down like a bird. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-53.htm">53</a>They threw me into a pitand dropped stones on me. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-54.htm">54</a>The water rose over my head,and I cried out, “This is the end!” <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-55.htm">55</a>But I called on your name, LORD,from deep within the pit. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-56.htm">56</a>You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!Hear my cry for help!” <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-57.htm">57</a>Yes, you came when I called;you told me, “Do not fear.” <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-58.htm">58</a>Lord, you have come to my defense;you have redeemed my life. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-59.htm">59</a>You have seen the wrong they have done to me, LORD.Be my judge, and prove me right. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-60.htm">60</a>You have seen the vengeful plotsmy enemies have laid against me. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-61.htm">61</a>LORD, you have heard the vile names they call me.You know all about the plans they have made. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-62.htm">62</a>My enemies whisper and mutteras they plot against me all day long. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-63.htm">63</a>Look at them! Whether they sit or stand,I am the object of their mocking songs. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-64.htm">64</a>Pay them back, LORD,for all the evil they have done. <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-65.htm">65</a>Give them hard and stubborn hearts,and then let your curse fall on them! <a href="http://biblehub.com/lamentations/3-66.htm">66</a>Chase them down in your anger,destroying them beneath the LORD’s heavens.<A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF">Footnotes: a<note caller="+" style="f">3:19 Or is wormwood and gall. b<note caller="+" style="f">3:22 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads of the Lord keeps us from destruction. </div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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