Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
| אני הגבר ראה עני בשבט עברתו׃ |
2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
| אותי נהג וילך חשך ולא אור׃ |
3 Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
| אך בי ישב יהפך ידו כל היום׃ |
4 He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
| בלה בשרי ועורי שבר עצמותי׃ |
5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
| בנה עלי ויקף ראש ותלאה׃ |
6 He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
| במחשכים הושיבני כמתי עולם׃ |
7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
| גדר בעדי ולא אצא הכביד נחשתי׃ |
8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
| גם כי אזעק ואשוע שתם תפלתי׃ |
9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
| גדר דרכי בגזית נתיבתי עוה׃ |
10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
| דב ארב הוא לי אריה במסתרים׃ |
11 He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
| דרכי סורר ויפשחני שמני שמם׃ |
12 He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
| דרך קשתו ויציבני כמטרא לחץ׃ |
13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
| הביא בכליותי בני אשפתו׃ |
14 I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
| הייתי שחק לכל עמי נגינתם כל היום׃ |
15 He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
| השביעני במרורים הרוני לענה׃ |
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
| ויגרס בחצץ שני הכפישני באפר׃ |
17 You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
| ותזנח משלום נפשי נשיתי טובה׃ |
18 I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from the LORD.”
| ואמר אבד נצחי ותוחלתי מיהוה׃ |
19 Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
| זכר עניי ומרודי לענה וראש׃ |
20 My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
| זכור תזכור ותשיח עלי נפשי׃ |
21 This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
| זאת אשיב אל לבי על כן אוחיל׃ |
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail.
| חסדי יהוה כי לא תמנו כי לא כלו רחמיו׃ |
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
| חדשים לבקרים רבה אמונתך׃ |
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
| חלקי יהוה אמרה נפשי על כן אוחיל לו׃ |
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
| טוב יהוה לקוו לנפש תדרשנו׃ |
26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
| טוב ויחיל ודומם לתשועת יהוה׃ |
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
| טוב לגבר כי ישא על בנעוריו׃ |
28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
| ישב בדד וידם כי נטל עליו׃ |
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
| יתן בעפר פיהו אולי יש תקוה׃ |
30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
| יתן למכהו לחי ישבע בחרפה׃ |
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
| כי לא יזנח לעולם אדני׃ |
32 For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
| כי אם הוגה ורחם כרב חסדו׃ |
33 For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
| כי לא ענה מלבו ויגה בני איש׃ |
34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
| לדכא תחת רגליו כל אסירי ארץ׃ |
35 to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
| להטות משפט גבר נגד פני עליון׃ |
36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
| לעות אדם בריבו אדני לא ראה׃ |
37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
| מי זה אמר ותהי אדני לא צוה׃ |
38 Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
| מפי עליון לא תצא הרעות והטוב׃ |
39 Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
| מה יתאונן אדם חי גבר על חטאו׃ |
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
| נחפשה דרכינו ונחקרה ונשובה עד יהוה׃ |
41 Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
| נשא לבבנו אל כפים אל אל בשמים׃ |
42 “We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
| נחנו פשענו ומרינו אתה לא סלחת׃ |
43 “You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
| סכתה באף ותרדפנו הרגת לא חמלת׃ |
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
| סכותה בענן לך מעבור תפלה׃ |
45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
| סחי ומאוס תשימנו בקרב העמים׃ |
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
| פצו עלינו פיהם כל איבינו׃ |
47 Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
| פחד ופחת היה לנו השאת והשבר׃ |
48 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
| פלגי מים תרד עיני על שבר בת עמי׃ |
49 My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
| עיני נגרה ולא תדמה מאין הפגות׃ |
50 until the LORD looks down, and sees from heaven.
| עד ישקיף וירא יהוה משמים׃ |
51 My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
| עיני עוללה לנפשי מכל בנות עירי׃ |
52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
| צוד צדוני כצפור איבי חנם׃ |
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
| צמתו בבור חיי וידו אבן בי׃ |
54 Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
| צפו מים על ראשי אמרתי נגזרתי׃ |
55 I called on your name, LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
| קראתי שמך יהוה מבור תחתיות׃ |
56 You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
| קולי שמעת אל תעלם אזנך לרוחתי לשועתי׃ |
57 You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
| קרבת ביום אקראך אמרת אל תירא׃ |
58 Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
| רבת אדני ריבי נפשי גאלת חיי׃ |
59 LORD, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
| ראיתה יהוה עותתי שפטה משפטי׃ |
60 You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
| ראיתה כל נקמתם כל מחשבתם לי׃ |
61 You have heard their reproach, LORD, and all their plans against me,
| שמעת חרפתם יהוה כל מחשבתם עלי׃ |
62 the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
| שפתי קמי והגיונם עלי כל היום׃ |
63 You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
| שבתם וקימתם הביטה אני מנגינתם׃ |
64 You will pay them back, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
| תשיב להם גמול יהוה כמעשה ידיהם׃ |
65 You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
| תתן להם מגנת לב תאלתך להם׃ |
66 You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
| תרדף באף ותשמידם מתחת שמי יהוה׃ |
