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