Lamentations 3
1 ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation.
I am the man that hath seen affliction under the rod of His wrath;
2 ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light.
He hath led me and brought me into darkness, and not into light;
3 ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long.
Yea, against me doth he again and again turn his hand all the day long.
4 BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship.
He hath builded against me, and encompassed me with bitterness and woe.
6 BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead.
He hath set me in dark places, as those that have long been 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 hath hedged me about, so that I cannot get out; he hath made my chain heavy;
8 GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer.
Yea, when I cry and call aloud, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths.
He blocketh up my way with hewn stone; he maketh my paths crooked.
10 DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding.
A bear lying in wait hath he been to me, a lion in lurking-places.
11 DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation.
He hath turned aside my ways, and torn me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
12 DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows.
He hath 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 hath caused the sons of his quiver to pierce my reins.
14 HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day.
I have been a laughing-stock to all my people, their song all the day.
15 HE. He has filled me with bitterness; he has inebriated me with wormwood.
He hath filled me with bitterness; he hath made me drunk with wormwood.
16 VAU. And he has broken each one of my teeth; he has fed me with ashes.
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel-stones; He hath covered me with ashes.
17 VAU. And my soul has been driven away from peace; I have forgotten what is good.
Yea, thou hast removed my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
18 VAU. And I said, “My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.”
And I say, “My confidence and my hope in Jehovah are gone!”
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.
Yea, thou wilt remember them, for my soul sinketh within me!
21 ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope.
This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope;
22 HETH. By the mercies of the Lord, we are not consumed. For his compassion has not passed away.
It is of the mercy of Jehovah that we are not consumed; yea, his compassion faileth not;
23 HETH. I know it at first light; great is your faithfulness.
It is new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
24 HETH. “The Lord is my portion,” said my soul. Because of this, I will wait for him.
Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul, therefore do I hope in him.
25 TETH. The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him.
Jehovah is good to them that trust in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 TETH. It is good to stand ready in silence for the salvation of God.
It is good that a man hope, and quietly wait for salvation from Jehovah.
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 in his youth;
28 JOD. He shall sit solitary and silent. For he has lifted it upon himself.
That he sit alone and keep silence, since He layeth it upon him;
29 JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope.
That he put his mouth in the dust, [[saying to himself, ]] “Perhaps there may be hope!”
30 JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches.
That he offer his cheek to the smiter; that he be filled with reproach.
31 CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever.
For the Lord will not cast off forever;
32 CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies.
For though he cause grief, yet doth he have compassion according to his great mercy;
33 CAPH. For he has not humiliated from his heart, nor has he thrown aside the sons of men,
For he doth not willingly afflict and grieve the children of men.
34 LAMED. as if to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
Doth one trample 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,
Doth he bend the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 LAMED. as if to pervert a man in his judgment: the Lord does not do this.
Doth he subvert a man in his cause, and shall not the Lord behold it?
37 MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command?
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord hath not commanded?
38 MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
Cometh not evil, as well as good, from the mouth of the Most High?
39 MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins?
Wherefore then murmureth the living man? Let him murmur at his own sin!
40 NUN. Let us examine our ways, and seek out, and return to the Lord.
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah!
41 NUN. Let us lift up our hearts, with our hands, toward the Lord in the heavens.
Let us lift up our hearts 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; we have rebelled; thou hast not forgiven!
43 SAMECH. You have covered us in your fury, and you have struck us. You have killed, and have not spared.
Thou hast hidden thyself in anger, and hast pursued us; thou hast slain and hast not spared;
44 SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through.
Thou hast hidden thyself in a cloud, that our prayer may not pass through;
45 SAMECH. In the midst of the peoples, you have uprooted me and cast me out.
Thou hast made us the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the nations.
46 PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us.
All our enemies have opened their mouths against us;
47 PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief.
Terror and the pit have come upon us, desolation and destruction;
48 PHE. My eye has brought forth streams of water at the contrition of the daughter of my people.
Mine eye runneth down with streams of water for 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
Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens.
Until Jehovah look down and behold from heaven.
51 AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city.
Mine eye is painful to me on account 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 that are my enemies without cause hunt me down like a bird;
53 SADE. My life has fallen into a pit, and they have placed a stone over me.
They take away my life in the dungeon; they cast a stone upon me;
54 SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.”
Waters flow over my head; I say, “I am undone!”
55 COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit.
I call upon thy name, O Jehovah, from the deep dungeon;
56 COPH. You have heard my voice. Do not turn away your ear from my sobbing and my cries.
Hear thou my voice! hide not thine ear from my cry for relief!
57 COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, “Fear not.”
Be near to me, when I call upon thee! Say, “Fear not!”
58 RES. You have judged, O Lord, the case of my soul. You are the Redeemer of my life.
Thou maintainest my cause, O Lord; thou redeemest my life!
59 RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case.
Thou, O Jehovah, seest the wrong done to me; Maintain thou my cause!
60 RES. You have seen all their fury, every one of their thoughts is against me.
Thou seest all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
61 SIN. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their thoughts are against me.
Thou hearest their reproach, O Jehovah, all their devices against me,
62 SIN. The lips of those who rise up against me, and their meditations, are against me all day long.
The words of my adversaries, and their machinations against me all the day long!
63 SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm.
Behold their sitting down and their rising up! I am their song.
64 THAU. You shall pay a recompense to them, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
Render to them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands!
65 THAU. You shall give them a heavy shield of the heart: your hardship.
Give them blindness of mind! thy curse be upon them!
66 THAU. You shall pursue them in fury, and you shall destroy them under the heavens, O Lord.
Pursue them in thine anger, and destroy them from under Jehovah's heaven!
