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