Lamentations

I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

1I am the man who has felt deep pain under the rod of God's anger.

2He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.

3Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.

3He has turned against me. He strikes at me with his hand all day long.

4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

4He has worn out my flesh and my skin. He has broken my bones.

5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

5He has built walls around me. He has surrounded me with bitterness and hard trouble.

6He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.

6He has made me live in dark places, like people who died long ago.

7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.

7He has fenced me in so I cannot get out. He has weighed me down with heavy chains.

8Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

8Even when I cry out and shout for help, he shuts my prayer out.

9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.

9He has blocked my roads with cut stone. He has made my paths twist and turn.

10He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.

10He is like a bear waiting to attack me, like a lion hiding to spring.

11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.

11He pulled me off my path and tore me to pieces. He left me with no help.

12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

12He bent his bow and set me up as the target for his arrow.

13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

13He shot the arrows from his quiver deep into my body.

NoteThe KJV says "reins," which is an old word for the kidneys, deep inside the body.

14I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.

14My own people laugh at me. They sing songs making fun of me all day.

15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.

15He has filled me with bitterness. He has made me drink bitter wormwood until I stagger.

NoteWormwood is a plant with a very bitter taste. Gall, in verse 19, is a bitter, sour liquid. Both stand for bitter suffering.

16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.

16He has ground my teeth on gravel. He has pushed me down into the ashes.

17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.

17You have taken peace far away from me. I have forgotten what good times feel like.

18And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:

18So I said, "My strength is gone, and so is my hope in the LORD."

19Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

19I remember my pain and my misery, the bitter wormwood and the bitter gall.

20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

20I remember it again and again, and I am bowed down inside.

21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

21But I call this to mind, and because of it I have hope:

22It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

22The LORD's faithful love keeps us from being destroyed. His mercy never runs out.

23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

23His mercies are new every morning. Your faithfulness is great.

24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

24I say to myself, "The LORD is what belongs to me, so I will hope in him."

25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

25The LORD is good to those who wait for him, and to anyone who looks for him.

26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

26It is good to hope, and to wait quietly for the LORD to save.

27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

27It is good for a man to carry the yoke while he is still young.

NoteA yoke is a wooden bar laid across an animal's neck so it can pull a heavy load. Here it means carrying hardship.

28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

28Let him sit alone and stay quiet, since God has laid this load on him.

29He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

29Let him put his face down in the dust. There may still be hope.

30He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.

30Let him turn his cheek to the one who hits him, and take the insults.

31For the LORD will not cast off for ever:

31For the Lord will not turn people away forever.

32But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

32Even when he brings grief, he will show pity, because his faithful love is so great.

33For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

33He does not enjoy bringing pain or sorrow to people.

34To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

34The Lord does not approve when the prisoners of the land are crushed underfoot.

35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

35He does not approve when a person is cheated of justice in front of the Most High.

36To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD approveth not.

36He does not approve when a person is cheated in his own court case.

37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

37Who can say a thing and have it happen, unless the Lord has ordered it?

38Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?

38Do not both trouble and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

39Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

39So why should any living person complain when he is punished for his own sins?

40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

40Let us look hard at the way we live. Let us turn back to the LORD.

41Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.

42We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.

42We have done wrong and refused to obey, and you have not forgiven us.

43Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

43You wrapped yourself in anger and chased us down. You killed and showed no pity.

44Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.

44You wrapped yourself in a cloud so that no prayer could get through.

45Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

45You have made us like garbage and trash among the nations.

46All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

46All our enemies open their mouths wide to speak against us.

47Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

47Terror and traps have come to us, and ruin and destruction too.

48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

48Tears run from my eyes like rivers, because my dear people have been destroyed.

49Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

49My eyes keep crying and will not stop. There is no rest from it,

50Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.

50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.

51Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.

51What my eyes see brings pain to my heart, because of all the women of my city.

52Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.

52My enemies hunted me hard, like a bird, and I had done nothing to them.

53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.

53They threw me alive into a pit and rolled a stone down on me.

54Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.

54The water rose over my head. Then I said, "This is the end of me."

55I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.

55I called on your name, LORD, from deep down in the pit.

56Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

56You heard my voice. Do not close your ears to my gasping and my cry.

57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.

57You came near on the day I called you. You said, "Do not be afraid."

58O LORD, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

58Lord, you took my side and argued my case. You saved my life.

59O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.

59LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. Judge my case for me.

60Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.

60You have seen how they want revenge, and all their plots against me.

61Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;

61LORD, you have heard their insults and all their plots against me.

62The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.

62You hear what my attackers say, and what they whisper about me all day.

63Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.

63Look at them, whether they sit down or stand up. They sing songs to mock me.

64Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

64Pay them back, LORD, for what their hands have done.

65Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.

65Make their hearts heavy with sorrow. Let your curse fall on them.

66Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

66Chase them down in anger and wipe them out from under the LORD's heavens.