Thematic Bible
Lamentations 3:1 (show verse)
(Alef) I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of his wrath.
Lamentations 3:2 (show verse)
He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light.
Lamentations 3:3 (show verse)
He repeatedly attacks me, he turns his hand against me all day long.
Lamentations 3:4 (show verse)
(Bet) He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones.
Lamentations 3:5 (show verse)
He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship.
Lamentations 3:6 (show verse)
He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago.
Lamentations 3:7 (show verse)
(Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.
Lamentations 3:8 (show verse)
Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer.
Lamentations 3:9 (show verse)
He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable.
Lamentations 3:10 (show verse)
(Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey.
Lamentations 3:11 (show verse)
He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate.
Lamentations 3:12 (show verse)
He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow.
Lamentations 3:13 (show verse)
(He) He shot his arrows into my heart.
Lamentations 3:14 (show verse)
I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long.
Lamentations 3:15 (show verse)
He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness.
Lamentations 3:16 (show verse)
(Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust.
Lamentations 3:17 (show verse)
I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.
Lamentations 3:18 (show verse)
So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord."
Lamentations 3:19 (show verse)
(Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison.
Lamentations 3:20 (show verse)
I continually think about this, and I am depressed.
Lamentations 3:21 (show verse)
But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope:
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:22 (show verse)
(Khet) The Lord's loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.
Lamentations 3:23 (show verse)
They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!
Lamentations 3:24 (show verse)
"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.
Lamentations 3:25 (show verse)
(Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.
Lamentations 3:26 (show verse)
It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.
Lamentations 3:27 (show verse)
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
Lamentations 3:28 (show verse)
(Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the Lord is disciplining him.
Lamentations 3:29 (show verse)
Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope.
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:30 (show verse)
Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults.
Lamentations 3:31 (show verse)
(Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever.
Lamentations 3:32 (show verse)
Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.
Lamentations 3:33 (show verse)
For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people.
Lamentations 3:34 (show verse)
(Lamed) To crush underfoot all the earth's prisoners,
Lamentations 3:35 (show verse)
to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High,
Lamentations 3:36 (show verse)
to defraud a person in a lawsuit -- the Lord does not approve of such things!
Lamentations 3:37 (show verse)
(Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it?
Lamentations 3:38 (show verse)
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes -- both calamity and blessing?
Lamentations 3:39 (show verse)
Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?
Lamentations 3:40 (show verse)
(Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.
Lamentations 3:41 (show verse)
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:
Lamentations 3:42 (show verse)
"We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven."
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:43 (show verse)
(Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy.
Lamentations 3:44 (show verse)
You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:45 (show verse)
You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations.
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:46 (show verse)
(Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us;
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:47 (show verse)
Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:48 (show verse)
Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
Lamentations 3:49 (show verse)
(Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break
Lamentations 3:50 (show verse)
until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.
Lamentations 3:51 (show verse)
What my eyes see grieves me -- all the suffering of the daughters in my city.
Lamentations 3:52 (show verse)
(Tsade) For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird.
Lamentations 3:53 (show verse)
They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me.
Lamentations 3:54 (show verse)
The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.
Lamentations 3:55 (show verse)
(Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit.
Lamentations 3:56 (show verse)
You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!"
Lamentations 3:57 (show verse)
You came near on the day I called to you; you said, "Do not fear!"
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:58 (show verse)
(Resh) O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life.
Lamentations 3:59 (show verse)
You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:60 (show verse)
You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:61 (show verse)
(Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:62 (show verse)
My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.
No Themes for this verse.
Lamentations 3:63 (show verse)
Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs.
Lamentations 3:64 (show verse)
(Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done.
Lamentations 3:65 (show verse)
Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them!
Lamentations 3:66 (show verse)
Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the Lord's heaven.