Lamentations 3:1-18 — Legacy Standard Bible

Jeremiah’s Heavy Chain

א Aleph

I am the man who has ^aseen afflictionBecause of the rod of His wrath.²He has driven me and made me walkIn ^adarkness and not in light.³Surely against me He has ^aturned His handRepeatedly all the day.

ב Beth

⁴He has caused my ^aflesh and my skin to waste away;He has ^bbroken my bones.⁵He has ^abesieged and encompassed me with ^bgall and hardship.⁶^aDark places He has made me inhabit,Like those who have long been dead.

ג Gimel

⁷He has ^awalled me in so that I cannot go out;He has made my ¹^,^bchain heavy.⁸Even when I cry out and call for help,He ^ashuts out my prayer.⁹He has ^ablocked my ways with cut stone;He has made my paths crooked.

ד Daleth

¹⁰He is to me like a bear lying in wait,Like a lion in secret places.¹¹He has turned aside my ways and ^atorn me to pieces;He has made me desolate.¹²He ^abent His bowAnd ^bset me as a target for the arrow.

ה He

¹³He made the ¹arrows of His ^aquiverTo enter into my ²inward parts.¹⁴I have become a ^alaughingstock to all my people,Their ^bmusic of mockery all the day.¹⁵He has ^asaturated me with bitterness;He has sated me with wormwood.

ו Vav

¹⁶He has ^abroken my teeth with ^bgravel;He has made me cower in the ^cdust.¹⁷My soul has been rejected ^afrom peace;I have forgotten goodness.¹⁸So I say, “My strength has perished,As well as my ^ahopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh.”