Note: As stated previously, in Hebrew, chapter 3 is 22 sets of 3 verses. The first 3 verses begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the second 3 with the second letter, and so on.
1-6 God has afflicted me; he has driven me into darkness, made my flesh to waste away, besieged me with bitterness and tribulation.
7-9 He has imprisoned me, chained me up, and will not hear my prayer.
10-15 He preys on me, like a bear or a lion, tears me to pieces, hunts me down and shoots me, making me a laughingstock of all the people, filling me with bitterness.
16-20 I eat gravel, I cower in ashes, I have forgotten what happiness is, I continually think of my afflicting.
21 "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope."
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.24 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him."
Amazing. Jeremiah describes his misery in great detail, blaming God for it, until he remembers that the LORD is loving and merciful, and that gives him hope. So does this mean that God is not responsible for his misery after all, or does it mean that his misery is part of God's mercy and love?
25-30 The LORD is good to those who seek him, so it is good to wait quietly for his salvation, to sit alone in silence, to bow to the ground, to submit to punishment.
31-36 For though he causes grief, he will have compassion; he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone. He sees the perversion of justice in the land, and the suffering of humans because of it.
This seems to answer my previous question. Yes, Jeremiah still holds God responsible for his pain, but trusts that it is necessary to bring about God's purposes of love and mercy.
37-42 The LORD ordains both good and bad; none of us has a right to complain about punishment for our sins, so let us examine our ways and return to the LORD, lifting up our hearts and our hands.
43-48 In your anger [LORD], you have killed without pity, deaf to our cries, making us filth in the eyes of the people, who mock us as we are destroyed; my eyes flow with tears.
49-51 My eyes will flow without ceasing until the LORD looks down in pity, as I look at the fate of the the young women in the city.
52-54 My enemies hunt me down, throw me into a pit filled with water. I am lost. (See Jeremiah 37:11-21)
55-57 From the pit, I called on your name, O LORD, and you heard me; you told me not to fear.
58-63 You have redeemed my life, judged my cause and seen their malice toward me, how they taunt and plot and whisper against me all day long.
64-66 Pay them back, O LORD, pursue them in anger and destroy them.
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