Lamentations 3
1 ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation.
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light.
He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
3 ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long.
Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
4 BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.
He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
5 BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship.
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead.
He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
7 GHIMEL. He has built against me all around, so that I may not depart. He has increased the burden of my confinement.
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
8 GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer.
Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9 GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths.
He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
10 DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding.
He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
11 DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation.
He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
12 DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows.
He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
13 HE. He has shot into my kidneys the daughters of his quiver.
He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
14 HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day.
I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15 HE. He has filled me with bitterness; he has inebriated me with wormwood.
He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
16 VAU. And he has broken each one of my teeth; he has fed me with ashes.
He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
17 VAU. And my soul has been driven away from peace; I have forgotten what is good.
My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 VAU. And I said, “My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.”
So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
19 ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20 ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me.
Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
21 ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope.
Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 HETH. By the mercies of the Lord, we are not consumed. For his compassion has not passed away.
Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
23 HETH. I know it at first light; great is your faithfulness.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24 HETH. “The Lord is my portion,” said my soul. Because of this, I will wait for him.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 TETH. The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him.
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26 TETH. It is good to stand ready in silence for the salvation of God.
It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 TETH. It is good for a man, when he has carried the yoke from his youth.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28 JOD. He shall sit solitary and silent. For he has lifted it upon himself.
Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
29 JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope.
Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
30 JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches.
Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
31 CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever.
For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
32 CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies.
Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
33 CAPH. For he has not humiliated from his heart, nor has he thrown aside the sons of men,
For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
34 LAMED. as if to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35 LAMED. as if to turn aside the judgment of a man in the sight of the presence of the Most High,
to deny a man justice before the Most High,
36 LAMED. as if to pervert a man in his judgment: the Lord does not do this.
to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
37 MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command?
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38 MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins?
Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
40 NUN. Let us examine our ways, and seek out, and return to the Lord.
Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
41 NUN. Let us lift up our hearts, with our hands, toward the Lord in the heavens.
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 NUN. We have acted sinfully, and we have provoked to wrath. About this, you are relentless.
“We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43 SAMECH. You have covered us in your fury, and you have struck us. You have killed, and have not spared.
You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
44 SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
45 SAMECH. In the midst of the peoples, you have uprooted me and cast me out.
You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46 PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us.
All our enemies open their mouths against us.
47 PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief.
Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
48 PHE. My eye has brought forth streams of water at the contrition of the daughter of my people.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 AIN. My eye has been afflicted, and it has not been quieted, because there would be no rest
My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
50 AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens.
until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51 AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city.
My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 SADE. My enemies have chased me, and they have caught me like a bird, without reason.
Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 SADE. My life has fallen into a pit, and they have placed a stone over me.
They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
54 SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.”
The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
55 COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit.
I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
56 COPH. You have heard my voice. Do not turn away your ear from my sobbing and my cries.
You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
57 COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, “Fear not.”
You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 RES. You have judged, O Lord, the case of my soul. You are the Redeemer of my life.
You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
59 RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case.
You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60 RES. You have seen all their fury, every one of their thoughts is against me.
You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61 SIN. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their thoughts are against me.
O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62 SIN. The lips of those who rise up against me, and their meditations, are against me all day long.
the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
63 SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm.
When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
64 THAU. You shall pay a recompense to them, 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 shall give them a heavy shield of the heart: your hardship.
Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
66 THAU. You shall pursue them in fury, and you shall destroy them under the heavens, O Lord.
You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
