Lamentations 3
1 ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation.
I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light.
He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3 ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long.
Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day.
4 BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.
My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones.
5 BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship.
He has built against 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 to dwell in dark places, like those that have been long dead.
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 can't escape; he has made my chains heavy.
8 GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer.
Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths.
He has walled up my ways with cut stone; 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 to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11 DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation.
He has obstructed my path, and torn me in pieces; he has made me desolate.
12 DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows.
He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 HE. He has shot into my kidneys the daughters of his quiver.
He has caused the arrows of his quiver to pierce my inward parts.
14 HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day.
I have become a laughingstock to all peoples, and their song all the day.
15 HE. He has filled me with bitterness; he has inebriated me with wormwood.
He has filled me with bitterness, he has given me in full measure wormwood.
16 VAU. And he has broken each one of my teeth; he has fed me with ashes.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel; he has pressed me down in the dust.
17 VAU. And my soul has been driven away from peace; I have forgotten what is good.
You have removed my soul far away from peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 VAU. And I said, “My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.”
And I said, "My strength and my hope has perished from the LORD."
19 ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me.
My soul considers them, and is depressed.
21 ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope.
But this I call to my mind; therefore I have hope:
22 HETH. By the mercies of the Lord, we are not consumed. For his compassion has not passed away.
The LORD's faithful love does not cease; his compassion does not 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 that seeks him.
26 TETH. It is good to stand ready in silence for the salvation of God.
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait 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 that he bear the yoke while he is young.
28 JOD. He shall sit solitary and silent. For he has lifted it upon himself.
Let him sit alone and keep silence when he is disciplining him.
29 JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope.
Let him put his mouth to the dust, there may yet be hope.
30 JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches.
Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled with insults.
31 CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever.
For the LORD will not reject forever.
32 CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies.
For though he may cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the abundance of his loving kindness.
33 CAPH. For he has not humiliated from his heart, nor has he thrown aside the sons of men,
For he is not predisposed to bring affliction or suffering to human beings.
34 LAMED. as if to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth;
35 LAMED. as if to turn aside the judgment of a man in the sight of the presence of the Most High,
to deprive a man of justice before the face of 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 cause, the LORD does not approve.
37 MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command?
Who can speak a thing and have it come to pass, unless the LORD has commanded it?
38 MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
Doesn't both calamity and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39 MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins?
Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 NUN. Let us examine our ways, and seek out, and return to the Lord.
Let us examine and search our ways, and return 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 heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 NUN. We have acted sinfully, and we have provoked to wrath. About this, you are relentless.
We have transgressed and have rebelled, and 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 with anger and pursued us; you killed without sparing.
44 SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through.
You have covered yourself with a cloud, so 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 rubbish and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
46 PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us.
All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47 PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief.
Fear and the pit have come on 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 run down from my eyes because of 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 tears flow and do not cease, without respite,
50 AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens.
until the LORD looks down and sees from heaven.
51 AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city.
My eyes bring my soul grief, 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.
They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53 SADE. My life has fallen into a pit, and they have placed a stone over me.
They have cut off my life in a pit, and have cast a stone on me.
54 SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.”
Waters flowed over my head; I said, 'I am finished.'
55 COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit.
I called on your name, 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 voice; do not hide your ear at my sighs, to my cry.
57 COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, “Fear not.”
You drew near in the day that 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.
LORD, you have taken up the case for my soul; you have redeemed my life.
59 RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case.
You have seen, LORD, the wrong done to me; judge my case.
60 RES. You have seen all their fury, every one of their thoughts is against me.
You have seen all their vengeance and all their plots against me.
61 SIN. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their thoughts are against me.
You have heard their insults, LORD, and 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 lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63 SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm.
Look their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their mocking song.
64 THAU. You shall pay a recompense to them, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
You will render to them what they deserve, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 THAU. You shall give them a heavy shield of the heart: your hardship.
You will give them hardness of heart as your curse to 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 destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
