Daily Bible CEV March 26 Verses

There Is Still Hope

The Prophet Speaks:
Lamentations 3 I have suffered much because God was angry.

²He chased me into a dark place,

where no light could enter.

³I am the only one he punishes over and over again,

without ever stopping.

⁴God caused my skin and flesh to waste away,

and he crushed my bones.

⁵He attacked and surrounded me with hardships and trouble;

⁶

he forced me to sit in the dark like someone long dead.

⁷God built a fence around me that I cannot climb over,

and he chained me down.

⁸Even when I shouted and prayed for help,

he refused to listen.

⁹God put big rocks in my way

and made me follow a crooked path.

¹⁰God was like a bear or a lion waiting in ambush for me;

¹¹

he dragged me from the road, then tore me to shreds.

¹²God took careful aim and shot his arrows

¹³

straight through my heart.

¹⁴I am a joke to everyone--

no one ever stops making fun of me.

¹⁵God has turned my life sour.

¹⁶He made me eat gravel and rubbed me in the dirt.

¹⁷

I cannot find peace or remember happiness.

¹⁸I tell myself, "I am finished!

I can't count on the LORD to do anything for me."

¹⁹Just thinking of my troubles and my lonely wandering

makes me miserable.

²⁰That's all I ever think about, and I am depressed.

²¹

Then I remember something that fills me with hope.

²²The LORD's kindness never fails!

If he had not been merciful,

we would have been destroyed.

²³The LORD can always be trusted

to show mercy each morning.

²⁴Deep in my heart I say, "The LORD is all I need;

I can depend on him!"

²⁵The LORD is kind to everyone who trusts and obeys him.

²⁶

It is good to wait patiently for the LORD to save us.

²⁷When we are young, it is good to struggle hard

²⁸and to sit silently alone,

if this is what the LORD intends.

²⁹Being rubbed in the dirt can teach us a lesson;

³⁰

we can also learn from insults and hard knocks.

³¹The Lord won't always reject us!

³²He causes a lot of suffering,

but he also has pity because of his great love.

³³The Lord doesn't enjoy sending grief or pain.

These daily Bible readings from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. BibleCard® images copyright iCreative. All rights reserved.