Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.
10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.
11 He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.
13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.
16 He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.
17 My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
19 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall.
20 Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.
21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.
22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.
23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
Heth. The Lord is my portion, said 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 hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
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 hath borne the yoke from his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.
31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,
Lamed. To turn aside the judgment 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.
Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?
39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.
42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.
Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.
53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
Sade. Waters have 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.
Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.
61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.
62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.
63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
Thau. Thou shalt 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. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.
