Lamentations 3:1-24
I am the man who has seen afflictionunder the rod of his wrath;he has driven and brought meinto darkness without any light;surely against me he turns his handagain and again the whole day long.
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;he has broken my bones;he has besieged and enveloped mewith bitterness and tribulation;he has made me dwell in darknesslike the dead of long ago.
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;he has made my chains heavy;though I call and cry for help,he shuts out my prayer;he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;he has made my paths crooked.
He is a bear lying in wait for me,a lion in hiding;he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;he has made me desolate;he bent his bow and set meas a target for his arrow.
He drove into my kidneysthe arrows of his quiver;I have become the laughingstock of all my people,the object of their taunts all day long.He has filled me with bitterness;he has sated me with wormwood.
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,and made me cower in ashes;my soul is bereft of peace;I have forgotten what happiness is;so I say, “My endurance has perished;so has my hope from the Lord.”
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,the wormwood and the gall!My soul continually remembers itand is bowed down within me.But this I call to mind,and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;his mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning;great is your faithfulness.“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in him.”
(ESV)