3:1 I am [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath.
3:2 He has led me and brought me into darkness and not light.
3:3 Surely He has turned away from me; His hand is against me all the day.
3:4 My flesh and my skin has He worn out and made old; He has shattered my bones.
3:5 He has built up [siege mounds] against me and surrounded me with bitterness, tribulation, and anguish.
3:6 He has caused me to dwell in dark places like those long dead.
3:7 He walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain.
3:8 Even when I cry and shout for help, He shuts out my prayer.
3:9 He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
3:10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, and like a lion [hiding] in secret places.
3:11 He has turned me off my ways and pulled me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
3:12 He has bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.
3:13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my heart [the seat of my affections and desires].
3:14 I have become a derision to all my people, and [the subject of] their singsong all the day.
3:15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink to excess and until drunken with wormwood [bitterness].
3:16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel (stones); He has covered me with ashes.
3:17 And You have bereaved my soul and cast it off far from peace; I have forgotten what good and happiness are.
3:18 And I say, Perished is my strength and my expectation from the Lord.
3:19 [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall.
3:20 My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me.
3:21 But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:
3:22 It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.
3:23 They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.
3:24 The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.
3:25 The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God’s word].
3:26 It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.
3:27 It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth.
3:28 Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit].
3:29 Let him put his mouth in the dust [in abject recognition of his unworthiness]—there may yet be hope.
3:30 Let him give his cheek to the One Who smites him [even through His human agents]; let him be filled [full] with [men’s] reproach [in meekness].
3:32 But though He causes grief, yet will He be moved to compassion according to the multitude of His loving-kindness and tender mercy.
3:33 For He does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men.
3:34 To trample and crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
3:35 To turn aside and deprive a man of his rights before the face of the Most High or a superior [acting as God’s representative],
3:36 To subvert a man in his cause—[of these things] the Lord does not approve.
3:37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it?
3:38 Is it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed [adversity and prosperity, physical evil or misfortune and physical good or happiness]?
3:39 Why does a living man sigh [one who is still in this life’s school of discipline]? [And why does] a man complain for the punishment of his sins?
3:40 Let us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord!
3:41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [and then with them mount up in prayer] to God in heaven:
3:42 We have transgressed and rebelled and You have not pardoned.
3:43 You have covered Yourself with wrath and pursued and afflicted us; You have slain without pity.
3:44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
3:45 You have made us offscouring and refuse among the nations.
3:46 All our enemies have gaped at us and railed against us.
3:47 Fear and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
3:48 My eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3:49 My eyes overflow continually and will not cease
3:50 Until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.
3:51 My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens [and the daughter-towns] of my city [Jerusalem].
3:52 I have been hunted down like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause.
3:53 They [thought they had] destroyed my life in the dungeon (pit) and cast a stone [over it] above me.
3:54 The waters ran down on my head; I said, I am gone.
3:55 I called upon Your name, O Lord, out of the depths [of the mire] of the dungeon.
3:56 You heard my voice [then]: [Oh] hide not Your ear [now] at my prayer for relief.
3:57 You drew near on the day I called to You; You said, Fear not.
3:58 O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul [You have managed my affairs and You have protected my person and my rights]; You have rescued and redeemed my life!
3:59 O Lord, You have seen my wrong [done to me]; judge and maintain my cause.
3:60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
3:61 You have heard their reproach and revilings, O Lord, and all their devices against me—
3:62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all day long.
3:63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up [their movements, doings, and secret counsels]; I am their singsong [the subject of their derision and merriment].
3:64 Render to them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
3:65 You will give them hardness and blindness of heart; Your curse will be upon them.
3:66 You will pursue and afflict them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens, O Lord.
Want to give us your feedback? Suggestions?
Would like to help?
Click here to become a Patreon. Entry level is FREE:
www.patreon.com/ScriptureAwakened Thank you!