What does Lamentations Chapter 3 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Lamentations 3 begins with a man seeing poverty under indignation’s rod. Darkness, turned hand, aged skin and flesh, broken bones, gall and labor, dark places, heavy fetters and excluded prayer follow. Square stones block paths; bear, lion, brokenness, bow and quiver imagery accompany derision, wormwood, individually broken teeth and ashes. Lost peace and hope meet remembrance of poverty, transgression, wormwood and gall. Heart reflection brings hope: mercy prevents consumption, compassion does not fail and renews each morning, and the Lord is the soul’s portion.

Goodness to seekers, silent waiting, a youth-borne yoke, solitary sitting, mouth in dust and cheek offered to a striker precede hope of mercy rather than perpetual casting off. Unwilling affliction stands beside disapproved crushing of prisoners and wrongful judgment. Questions about divine command, good and evil and murmuring for sins lead to searching ways and returning, lifting hearts and hands. Wickedness, inexorable wrath, unspared killing, a cloud excluding prayer and outcast refuse coexist with hope; the lament does not become uninterrupted reassurance. Enemies, frightening prophecy and streams of tears continue until heavenly regard, with city daughters wasting the speaker’s soul.

Enemies chase without cause like a bird, life falls in a pit with a covering stone, and waters rise over the head. Calling from the lowest pit receives heard voice and nearness in that day with Fear not. The Redeemer judges the soul’s cause; seen iniquity, fury, thoughts, reproach and mocking song precede requested recompense, a buckler of heart and destruction under heaven. The speaker is not explicitly identified as Jeremias within this span; literal medical injuries, immediate rescue timing and universal purification or guaranteed reassurance are not certified.