Lamentations Chapter 3
King James Version (KJV)
Other Translations
asv (asv) - eBible.org engASV USFM
1
He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men:
2
The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.
3
For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water;
4
Because the comforter that should refresh my soul is far from me:
5
My children are desolate, because the enemy hath prevailed.
6
Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her;
7
Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, that they that are round about him should be his adversaries:
8
Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.
9
Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment:
10
Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow:
11
My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
12
I called for my lovers,
13
but they deceived me:
14
My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city,
15
While they sought them food to refresh their souls.
16
Behold, O Jehovah; for I am in distress; my heart is troubled;
17
My heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled:
18
Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
19
They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me;
20
All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it:
21
Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast proclaimed, and they shall be like unto me.
22
Let all their wickedness come before thee;
23
And do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions:
24
For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
25
How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger!
26
He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel,
27
And hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
28
The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied:
29
He hath thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
30
He hath brought them down to the ground; he hath profaned the kingdom and the princes thereof.
31
He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel;
32
He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy:
33
And he hath burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
34
He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath stood with his right hand as an adversary,
35
And hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye:
36
In the tent of the daughter of Zion he hath poured out his wrath like fire.
37
The Lord is become as an enemy, he hath swallowed up Israel;
38
He hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed his strongholds;
39
And he hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
40
And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; he hath destroyed his place of assembly:
41
Jehovah hath caused solemn assembly and sabbath to be forgotten in Zion,
42
And hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
43
The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary;
44
He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces:
45
They have made a noise in the house of Jehovah, as in the day of a solemn assembly.
46
Jehovah hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion;
47
He hath stretched out the line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying;
48
And he hath made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.
49
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars:
50
Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not;
51
Yea, her prophets find no vision from Jehovah.
52
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence;
53
They have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth:
54
The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
55
Mine eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled;
56
My liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
57
Because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
58
They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine?
59
When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city,
60
When their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
61
What shall I testify unto thee? what shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?
62
What shall I compare to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?
63
For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
64
Thy prophets have seen for thee false and foolish visions;
65
And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity,
66
But have seen for thee false oracles and causes of banishment.
darby (darby) - eBible.org Darby 1890 plaintext
1
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2
Me hath he led, and brought into darkness, and not into light.
3
Surely against me hath he turned again and again his hand all the day.
4
My flesh and my skin hath he wasted away, he hath broken my bones.
5
He hath built against me, and encompassed [me] with gall and toil.
6
He hath made me to dwell in dark places as those that have been long dead.
7
He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8
Even when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9
He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10
He is unto me [as] a bear lying in wait, a lion in secret places.
11
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
12
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13
He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14
I am become a derision to all my people; their song all the day.
15
He hath sated me with bitterness, he hath made me drunk with wormwood.
16
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17
And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I have forgotten prosperity.
18
And I said, My strength is perished, and my hope in Jehovah.
19
Remember thou mine affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20
My soul hath [them] constantly in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21
— This I recall to heart, therefore have I hope.
22
It is of Jehovah's loving-kindness we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not;
23
they are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24
Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25
Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul [that] seeketh him.
26
It is good that one should both wait, and that in silence, for the salvation of Jehovah.
27
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth:
28
He sitteth solitary and keepeth silence, because he hath laid it upon him;
29
he putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope;
30
he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him; he is filled full with reproach.
31
For the Lord will not cast off for ever;
32
but if he have caused grief, he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses:
33
for he doth not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.
34
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35
to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36
to wrong a man in his cause, — will not the Lord see it?
37
Who is he that saith, and there cometh to pass, what the Lord hath not commanded?
38
Out of the mouth of the Most High doth not there proceed evil and good?
39
Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.
41
Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands untoGod in the heavens.
42
We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43
Thou hast covered thyself with anger, and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not spared.
44
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that prayer should not pass through.
45
Thou hast made us the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
46
All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.
47
Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and ruin.
48
Mine eye runneth down with streams of water for the ruin of the daughter of my people.
49
Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50
till Jehovah look down and behold from the heavens.
51
Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52
They that are mine enemies without cause have chased me sore like a bird.
53
They have cut off my life in a pit, and cast a stone upon me.
54
Waters streamed over my head; I said, I am cut off.
55
I called upon thy name, Jehovah, out of the lowest pit.
56
Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my sighing, at my cry.
57
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.
58
Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul, thou hast redeemed my life.
59
Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60
Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their imaginations against me.
61
Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, all their imaginations against me;
62
the lips of those that rise up against me and their meditation against me all the day.
63
Behold thou their sitting down and their rising up: I am their song.
64
Render unto them a recompence, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands;
65
give them obduracy of heart, thy curse unto them;
66
pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.
lxxbrent (lxxbrent) - Septuagint (Brenton 1851) eBible USFM
1
Aleph. I am the man that sees poverty, through the rod of his wrath upon me.
2
He has taken me, and led me away into darkness, and not [into] light.
3
Nay, against me has he turned his hand all the day.
4
He has made old my flesh and my skin; he has broken my bones.
5
Beth. He has built against me, and compassed my head, and brought travail [upon me].
6
He has set me in dark places, as them that have long been dead.
7
He has builded against me, and I cannot come forth: he has made my brazen [chain] heavy.
8
Gimel. Yea, [though] I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer.
9
Daleth. He has built up my ways, he has hedged my paths;
10
he has troubled me, [as] a she-bear lying in wait: he is to me [as] a lion in secret places.
11
He pursued [me] after I departed, and brought me to a stand: he has utterly ruined me.
12
He. He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13
He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14
I became a laughing-stock to all my people; and their song all the day.
15
Vau. He has filled me with bitterness, he has drenched me with gall.
16
And he has dashed out my teeth with gravel, he has fed me with ashes.
17
He has also removed my soul from peace: I forgot prosperity.
18
Therefore my success has perished, and my hope from the Lord.
19
Zain. I remembered by reason of my poverty, and because of persecution my bitterness and gall shall be remembered;
20
and my soul shall meditate with me.
21
This will I lay up in my heart, therefore will I endure.
25
Teth. The Lord is good to them that wait for him: the soul which shall seek him
26
[is] good, and shall wait for, and quietly expect salvation of the Lord.
27
Teth. [It is] good for a man when he bears a yoke in his youth.
28
He will sit alone, and be silent, because he has borne [it] upon him.
30
Jod. He will give [his] cheek to him that smites him: he will be filled full with reproaches.
31
For the Lord will not reject for ever.
32
Chaph. For he that has brought down will pity, and [that] according to the abundance of his mercy.
33
He has not answered [in anger] from his heart, though he has brought low the children of a man.
34
Lamed. To bring down under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35
to turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the Most High,
36
to condemn a man [unjustly] in his judgment, the Lord has not given commandment.
37
Who has thus spoken, and it has come to pass? the Lord has not commanded it.
38
Out of the mouth of the Most High there shall not come forth evil and good.
39
Mem. Why should a living man complain, a man concerning his sin?
40
Nun. Our way has been searched out and examined, and we will turn to the Lord.
41
Let us lift up our hearts with [our] hands to the lofty One in heaven.
42
We have sinned, we have transgressed; and thou hast not pardoned.
43
Samech. Thou hast visited [us] in wrath, and driven us away: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44
Thou hast veiled thyself with a cloud because of prayer, that I might be blind,
45
and be cast off. Ain. Thou hast set us [alone] in the midst of the nations.
46
All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.
47
Fear and wrath are come upon us, suspense and destruction.
48
Mine eye shall pour down torrents of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49
Phe. Mine eye is drowned [with tears], and I will not be silent, so that there shall be no rest,
50
until the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51
Mine eye shall prey upon my soul, because of all the daughters of the city.
52
Tsade. The fowlers chased me as a sparrow, all mine enemies destroyed my life in a pit without cause,
53
and laid a stone upon me.
54
Water flowed over my head: I said, I am cut off.
55
Koph. I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the lowest dungeon.
56
Thou heardest my voice: close not thine ears to my supplication.
57
Thou drewest nigh to my help: in the day wherein I called upon thee thou saidst to me, Fear not.
58
Rechs. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59
Thou hast seen, O Lord, my troubles: thou hast judged my cause.
60
Thou hast seen all their vengeance, [thou hast looked] on all their devices against me.
61
Chsen. Thou hast heard their reproach [and] all their devices against me;
62
the lips of them that rose up against me, and their plots against me all the day;
63
their sitting down and their rising up: look thou upon their eyes.
64
Thou wilt render them a recompence, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
65
Thau. Thou wilt give them [as] a covering, the grief of my heart.
66
Thou wilt persecute them in anger, and wilt consume them from under the heaven, O Lord.
vul1914 (vul1914) - Vulgate 1914 UTF-8 (sacredbible.org)
1
ALEPH. Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis eius.
2
ALEPH. Me minavit, et adduxit in tenebras, et non in lucem.
3
ALEPH. Tantum in me vertit, et convertit manum suam tota die.
4
BETH. Vetustam fecit pellem meam, et carnem meam, contrivit ossa mea.
5
BETH. Ædificavit in gyro meo, et circumdedit me felle, et labore.
6
BETH. In tenebrosis collocavit me, quasi mortuos sempiternos.
7
GHIMEL. Circumædificavit adversum me, ut non egrediar: aggravavit compedem meum.
8
GHIMEL. Sed et cum clamavero, et rogavero, exclusit orationem meam.
9
GHIMEL. Conclusit vias meas lapidibus quadris, semitas meas subvertit.
10
DALETH. Ursus insidians factus est mihi: leo in absconditis.
11
DALETH. Semitas meas subvertit, et confregit me: posuit me desolatam.
12
DALETH. Tetendit arcum suum, et posuit me quasi signum ad sagittam.
13
HE. Misit in renibus meis filias pharetræ suæ.
14
HE. Factus sum in derisum omni populo meo, canticum eorum tota die.
15
HE. Replevit me amaritudinibus, inebriavit me absynthio.
16
VAU. Et fregit ad numerum dentes meos, cibavit me cinere.
17
VAU. Et repulsa est a pace anima mea, oblitus sum bonorum.
18
VAU. Et dixi: Periit finis meus, et spes mea a Domino.
19
ZAIN. Recordare paupertatis, et transgressionis meæ, absinthii, et fellis.
20
ZAIN. Memoria memor ero, et tabescet in me anima mea.
21
ZAIN. Hæc recolens in corde meo, ideo sperabo.
22
HETH. Misericordiæ Domini quia non sumus consumpti: quia non defecerunt miserationes eius.
23
HETH. Novi diluculo, multa est fides tua.
24
HETH. Pars mea Dominus, dixit anima mea: propterea expectabo eum.
25
TETH. Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum, animæ quærenti illum.
26
TETH. Bonum est præstolari cum silentio salutare Dei.
27
TETH. Bonum est viro, cum portaverit iugum ab adolescentia sua.
28
IOD. Sedebit solitarius, et tacebit: quia levavit super se.
29
IOD. Ponet in pulvere os suum, si forte sit spes.
30
IOD. Dabit percutienti se maxillam, saturabitur opprobriis.
31
CAPH. Quia non repellet in sempiternum Dominus.
32
CAPH. Quia si abiecit, et miserebitur secundum multitudinem misericordiarum suarum.
33
CAPH. Non enim humiliavit ex corde suo, et abiecit filios hominum,
34
LAMED. Ut conteret sub pedibus suis omnes vinctos terræ,
35
LAMED. Ut declinaret iudicium viri in conspectu vultus Altissimi.
36
LAMED. Ut perverteret hominem in iudicio suo, Dominus ignoravit.
37
MEM. Quis est iste, qui dixit ut fieret, Domino non iubente?
38
MEM. Ex ore Altissimi non egredientur nec mala nec bona?
39
MEM. Quid murmuravit homo vivens, vir pro peccatis suis?
40
NUN. Scrutemur vias nostras, et quæramus, et revertamur ad Dominum.
41
NUN. Levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in cælos.
42
NUN. Nos inique egimus, et ad iracundiam provocavimus: idcirco tu inexorabilis es.
43
SAMECH. Operuisti in furore, et percussisti nos: occidisti, nec pepercisti.
44
SAMECH. Opposuisti nubem tibi, ne transeat oratio.
45
SAMECH. Eradicationem, et abiectionem posuisti me in medio populorum.
46
PHE. Aperuerunt super nos os suum omnes inimici.
47
PHE. Formido, et laqueus facta est nobis vaticinatio, et contritio.
48
PHE. Divisiones aquarum deduxit oculus meus, in contritione filiæ populi mei.
49
AIN. Oculus meus afflictus est, nec tacuit, eo quod non esset requies,
50
AIN. Donec respiceret et videret Dominus de cælis.
51
AIN. Oculus meus deprædatus est animam meam in cunctis filiabus urbis meæ.
52
SADE. Venatione ceperunt me quasi avem inimici mei gratis.
53
SADE. Lapsa est in lacum vita mea, et posuerunt lapidem super me.
54
SADE. Inundaverunt aquæ super caput meum: dixi: Perii.
55
COPH. Invocavi nomen tuum Domine de lacu novissimo.
56
COPH. Vocem meam audisti: ne avertas aurem tuam a singultu meo, et clamoribus.
57
COPH. Appropinquasti in die, quando invocavi te: dixisti: Ne timeas.
58
RES. Iudicasti Domine causam animæ meæ, redemptor vitæ meæ.
59
RES. Vidisti Domine iniquitatem illorum adversum me: iudica iudicium meum.
60
RES. Vidisti omnem furorem, universas cogitationes eorum adversum me.
61
SIN. Audisti opprobrium eorum Domine, omnes cogitationes eorum adversum me:
62
SIN. Labia insurgentium mihi; et meditationes eorum adversum me tota die.
63
SIN. Sessionem eorum, et resurrectionem eorum vide, ego sum psalmus eorum.
64
THAU. Redes eis vicem Domine iuxta opera manuum suarum.
65
THAU. Dabis eis scutum cordis laborem tuum.
66
THAU. Persequeris in furore, et conteres eos sub cælis Domine.
web (web) - WorldEnglish.Bible — CC0 modern update of ASV
1
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2
He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3
Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4
He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5
He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6
He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7
He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8
Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9
He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10
He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11
He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12
He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13
He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14
I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15
He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16
He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17
You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18
I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from the LORD.”
19
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20
My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21
This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22
It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail.
23
They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28
Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30
Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31
For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32
For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33
For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35
to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36
to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37
Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38
Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39
Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41
Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42
“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
43
“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
44
You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45
You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
46
“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47
Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
48
My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49
My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
50
until the LORD looks down, and sees from heaven.
51
My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52
They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
54
Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
55
I called on your name, LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
56
You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
57
You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58
Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
59
LORD, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60
You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
61
You have heard their reproach, LORD, and all their plans against me,
62
the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63
You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64
You will pay them back, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65
You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
66
You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
ylt (ylt) - Bible.com YLT98 plain UTF-8
1
I <FI>am<Fi> the man <FI>who<Fi> hath seen affliction By the rod of His wrath.
2
Me He hath led, and causeth to go <FI>in<Fi> darkness, and without light.
3
Surely against me He turneth back, He turneth His hand all the day.
4
He hath worn out my flesh and my skin. He hath broken my bones.
5
He hath built up against me, And setteth round poverty and weariness.
6
In dark places He hath caused me to dwell, As the dead of old.
7
He hath hedged me about, and I go not out, He hath made heavy my fetter.
8
Also when I call and cry out, He hath shut out my prayer.
9
He hath hedged my ways with hewn work, My paths He hath made crooked.
10
A bear lying in wait He <FI>is<Fi> to me, A lion in secret hiding-places.
11
My ways He is turning aside, and He pulleth me in pieces, He hath made me a desolation.
12
He hath trodden His bow, And setteth me up as a mark for an arrow.
13
He hath caused to enter into my reins The sons of His quiver.
14
I have been a derision to all my people, Their song all the day.
15
He hath filled me with bitter things, He hath filled me <FI>with<Fi> wormwood.
16
And He breaketh with gravel my teeth, He hath covered me with ashes.
17
And Thou castest off from peace my soul, I have forgotten prosperity.
18
And I say, Perished hath my strength and my hope from Jehovah.
19
Remember my affliction and my mourning, Wormwood and gall!
20
Remember well, and bow down doth my soul in me.
21
This I turn to my heart--therefore I hope.
22
The kindnesses of Jehovah! For we have not been consumed, For not ended have His mercies.
23
New every morning, abundant <FI>is<Fi> thy faithfulness.
24
My portion <FI>is<Fi> Jehovah, hath my soul said, Therefore I hope for Him.
25
Good <FI>is<Fi> Jehovah to those waiting for Him, To the soul <FI>that<Fi> seeketh Him.
26
Good! when one doth stay and stand still For the salvation of Jehovah.
27
Good for a man that he beareth a yoke in his youth.
28
He sitteth alone, and is silent, For He hath laid <FI>it<Fi> upon him.
29
He putteth in the dust his mouth, if so be there is hope.
30
He giveth to his smiter the cheek, He is filled with reproach.
31
For the Lord doth not cast off to the age.
32
For though He afflicted, yet He hath pitied, According to the abundance of His kindness.
33
For He hath not afflicted with His heart, Nor doth He grieve the sons of men.
34
To bruise under one's feet any bound ones of earth,
35
To turn aside the judgment of a man, Over-against the face of the Most High,
36
To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord hath not approved.
37
Who <FI>is<Fi> this--he hath said, and it is, <FI>And<Fi> the Lord hath not commanded <FI>it<Fi> ?
38
From the mouth of the Most High Go not forth the evils and the good.
39
What--sigh habitually doth a living man, A man for his sin?
40
We search our ways, and investigate, And turn back unto Jehovah.
41
We lift up our heart on the hands unto God in the heavens.
42
We--we have transgressed and rebelled, Thou--Thou hast not forgiven.
43
Thou hast covered Thyself with anger, And dost pursue us; Thou hast slain--Thou hast not pitied.
44
Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, So that prayer doth not pass through.
45
Offscouring and refuse Thou dost make us In the midst of the peoples.
46
Opened against us their mouth have all our enemies.
47
Fear and a snare hath been for us, Desolation and destruction.
48
Rivulets of water go down my eye, For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49
Mine eye is poured out, And doth not cease without intermission,
50
Till Jehovah looketh and seeth from the heavens,
51
My eye affecteth my soul, Because of all the daughters of my city.
52
Hunted me sore as a bird have my enemies without cause.
53
They have cut off in a pit my life, And they cast a stone against me.
54
Flowed have waters over my head, I have said, I have been cut off.
55
I called Thy name, O Jehovah, from the lower pit.
56
My voice Thou hast heard, Hide not Thine ear at my breathing--at my cry.
57
Thou hast drawn near in the day I call Thee, Thou hast said, Fear not.
58
Thou hast pleaded, O Lord, the pleadings of my soul, Thou hast redeemed my life.
59
Thou hast seen, O Jehovah, my overthrow, Judge Thou my cause.
60
Thou hast seen all their vengeance, All their thoughts of me.
61
Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, All their thoughts against me,
62
The lips of my withstanders, Even their meditation against me all the day.
63
Their sitting down, and their rising up, Behold attentively, I <FI>am<Fi> their song.
64
Thou returnest to them the deed, O Jehovah, According to the work of their hands.
65
Thou givest to them a covered heart, Thy curse to them.
66
Thou pursuest in anger, and destroyest them, From under the heavens of Jehovah!
Explanations by Age Level
Explain Like I'm 5
A long, long time ago, there was nothing at all - no earth, no sky, no animals, no people. It was all dark and empty. But God was there! God is so powerful that He can make anything just by speaking. So God said "Let there be light!" and BOOM! There was light everywhere! God saw that the light was beautiful and good. He called the light "day" and the darkness "night." This was the very first day when God started making our wonderful world!
Explain Like I'm 10
Before anything existed - no planets, stars, or life - God decided to create the universe. The earth started out as a dark, empty place covered with water. But God's Spirit was there, ready to bring order and beauty to everything. When God spoke and said "Let there be light," light immediately appeared because God's words have incredible power. God looked at the light and was pleased with what He had made. He organized time by separating light (day) from darkness (night), creating the first 24-hour period. This shows us that God is organized and purposeful in everything He does.
Explain Like I'm 15
Genesis 1:1-5 establishes fundamental theological truths about God and creation. The Hebrew word "bara" (created) indicates creation from nothing (ex nihilo), demonstrating God's absolute sovereignty and power. The phrase "without form and void" (tohu wa-bohu) describes a state of chaos that God transforms into order. The Spirit of God "hovering" or "brooding" over the waters suggests active, caring involvement in creation. The creation of light before the sun (created on day 4) indicates that God Himself is the ultimate source of light and energy. The establishment of day and night creates the framework of time, showing that God operates within orderly patterns while transcending them. This passage refutes both atheistic materialism and pantheism, establishing that God is both transcendent (separate from creation) and immanent (actively involved in it).