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].

3:31  For the Lord will not cast off forever!

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.