< Lamentations 3 >
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
ALEPH. I am the man that sees poverty, through the rod of his wrath upon me.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
He has taken me, and led me away into darkness, and not [into] light.
3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
Nay, against me has he turned his hand all the day.
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
He has made old my flesh and my skin; he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
BETH. He has built against me, and compassed my head, and brought travail [upon me].
6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
He has set me in dark places, as them that have long been dead.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
He has builded against me, and I can’t come forth: he has made my brazen [chain] heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
GIMEL. Yes, [though] I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
DALETH. He has built up my ways, he has hedged my paths;
10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
he has troubled me, [as] a she-bear lying in wait: he is to me [as] a lion in secret places.
11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
He pursued [me] after I departed, and brought me to a stand: he has utterly ruined me.
12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
HE. He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
I became a laughing stock to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
VAU. He has filled me with bitterness, he has drenched me with gall.
16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
And he has dashed out my teeth with gravel, he has fed me with ashes.
17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
He has also removed my soul from peace: I forgot prosperity.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
Therefore my success has perished, and my hope from the Lord.
19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
ZAIN. I remembered by reason of my poverty, and because of persecution my bitterness and gall shall be remembered;
20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
and my soul shall meditate with me.
21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
This will I lay up in my heart, therefore I will endure.
22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
HETH. [It is] the mercies of the Lord, that he has not failed me, because his compassions are not exhausted. Pity [us], O Lord, early [every] month: for we are not brought to an end, because his compassions are not exhausted.
23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
[They are] new every morning: great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I wait for him.
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
TETH. The Lord is good to them that wait for him: the soul which shall seek him
26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
[is] good, and shall wait for, and quietly expect salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
TETH. [It is] good for a man when he bears a yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
He will sit alone, and be silent, because he has borne [it] upon him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
JOD. He will give [his] cheek to him that smites him: he will be filled full with reproaches.
31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
For the Lord will not reject for ever.
32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
CHAPH. For he that has brought down will pity, and [that] according to the abundance of his mercy.
33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
He has not answered [in anger] from his heart, though he has brought low the children of a man.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
LAMED. To bring down under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,
to turn aside the judgement of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
to condemn a man [unjustly] in his judgement, the Lord has not given commandment.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Who has thus spoken, and it has come to pass? the Lord has not commanded it.
38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
Out of the mouth of the Most High there shall not come forth evil and good.
39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
MEM. Why should a living man complain, a man concerning his sin?
40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
NUN. Our way has been searched out and examined, and we will turn to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
Let us lift up our hearts with [our] hand to the lofty One in heaven.
42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
We have sinned, we have transgressed; and you have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
SAMECH. You has visited [us] in wrath, and driven us away: you has slain, you has not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
You have veiled yourself with a cloud because of prayer, that I might be blind,
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
and be cast off. AIN. You have set us [alone] in the midst of the nations.
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.
All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
Fear and wrath are come upon us, suspense and destruction.
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Mine eye shall pour down torrents of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
PHE. Mine eye is drowned [with tears], and I will not be silent, so that there shall be no rest,
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
until the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
Mine eye shall prey upon my soul, because of all the daughters of the city.
52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
TSADE. The fowlers chased me as a sparrow, all mine enemies destroyed my life in a pit without cause,
53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
and laid a stone upon me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
Water flowed over my head: I said, I am cut off.
55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
KOPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, out of the lowest dungeon.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
You heard my voice: close not your ears to my supplication.
57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
You drew near to my help: in the day wherein I called upon you you said to me, Fear not.
58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
RECHS. O Lord, you has pleaded the causes of my soul; you has redeemed my life.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
You have seen, O Lord, my troubles: you have judged my cause.
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
You have seen all their vengeance, [you have looked] on all their devices against me.
61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
CHSEN. You have heard their reproach [and] all their devices against me;
62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
the lips of them that rose up against me, and their plots against me all the day;
63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
their sitting down and their rising up: look you upon their eyes.
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
You will render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
65 Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
THAU. You will give them [as] a covering, the grief of my heart.
66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
You will persecute them in anger, and will consume them from under the heaven, O Lord.