Lamentations 3.15
New International Version

Souffrance et consolation

¹ I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.

² He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;

³ indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.

⁴ He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.

⁵ He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.

⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.

⁷ He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.

⁸ Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.

⁹ He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,

¹¹ he dragged me from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.

¹² He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³ He pierced my heart
with arrows from his quiver.

¹⁴ I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.

¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.

¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.

¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.

¹⁸ So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

²⁰ I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

²¹ Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

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

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.

²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust —
there may yet be hope.

³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

³¹ For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.

³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.

³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.

³⁴ To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,

³⁵ to deny people their rights
before the Most High,

³⁶ to deprive them of justice —
would not the Lord see such things?

³⁷ Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?

³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?

³⁹ Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?

⁴⁰ Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the Lord.

⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:

⁴² “We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.

⁴³ “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.

⁴⁴ You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.

⁴⁵ You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.

⁴⁶ “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.

⁴⁷ We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction.”

⁴⁸ Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.

⁴⁹ My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,

⁵⁰ until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.

⁵¹ What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.

⁵² Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.

⁵³ They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;

⁵⁴ the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to perish.

⁵⁵ I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.

⁵⁶ You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”

⁵⁷ You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”

⁵⁸ You, Lord, took up my case;
you redeemed my life.

⁵⁹ Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!

⁶⁰ You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.

⁶¹ Lord, you have heard their insults,
all their plots against me —

⁶² what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.

⁶³ Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.

⁶⁴ Pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
for what their hands have done.

⁶⁵ Put a veil over their hearts,
and may your curse be on them!

⁶⁶ Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the Lord.