Lam 3:1-27 | ESV | STEP | I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath ;

1 ^aI am the man who has seen affliction
under the ^brod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
^cinto darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
^dhe has broken my bones;
5 ^ehe has besieged and enveloped me
with ^fbitterness and tribulation;
6 ^ghe has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 ^hHe has walled me about so that ⁱI cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
8 though ^jI call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 ^khe has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 ^lHe is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 ^mhe turned aside my steps and ⁿtore me to pieces;
^ohe has made me desolate;
12 ^phe bent his bow ^qand set me
as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys
^rthe arrows of his quiver;
14 ^sI have become the laughingstock of all my people, ^{▼▼Some manuscripts all peoples}
^uthe object of their taunts all day long.
15 ^vHe has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with ^wwormwood.
16 ^xHe has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and ^ymade me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness ^{▼▼Hebrew good} is;
18 ^aaso I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 ^abRemember my affliction and my wanderings,
^acthe wormwood and ^adthe gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
^aeand is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and ^aftherefore I have hope:
22 ^agThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; ^{▼▼Syriac, Targum; Hebrew Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, we are not cut off}
^aihis mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new ^ajevery morning;
^akgreat is your faithfulness.
24 ^al“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
^am“therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who ^anwait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 ^aoIt is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 ^apIt is good for a man that he bear
the yoke ^aqin his youth.