Lamentationes 3
1 ALEPH ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis eius
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 ALEPH me minavit et adduxit in tenebris et non in lucem
He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3 ALEPH tantum in me vertit et convertit manum suam tota die
Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4 BETH vetustam fecit pellem meam et carnem meam contrivit ossa mea
He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5 BETH aedificavit in gyro meo et circumdedit me felle et labore
He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 BETH in tenebrosis conlocavit me quasi mortuos sempiternos
He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7 GIMEL circumaedificavit adversum me ut non egrediar adgravavit conpedem meam
He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8 GIMEL sed et cum clamavero et rogavero exclusit orationem meam
Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 GIMEL conclusit vias meas lapidibus quadris semitas meas subvertit
He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10 DELETH ursus insidians factus est mihi leo in absconditis
He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11 DELETH semitas meas subvertit et confregit me posuit me desolatam
He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12 DELETH tetendit arcum suum et posuit me quasi signum ad sagittam
He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 HE misit in renibus meis filias faretrae suae
He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14 HE factus sum in derisu omni populo meo canticum eorum tota die
I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15 HE replevit me amaritudinibus inebriavit me absinthio
He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16 VAV et fregit ad numerum dentes meos cibavit me cinere
He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17 VAV et repulsa est anima mea oblitus sum bonorum
You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18 VAV et dixi periit finis meus et spes mea a Domino
I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from the LORD.”
19 ZAI recordare paupertatis et transgressionis meae absinthii et fellis
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20 ZAI memoria memor ero et tabescet in me anima mea
My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21 ZAI hoc recolens in corde meo ideo sperabo
This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22 HETH misericordiae Domini quia non sumus consumpti quia non defecerunt miserationes eius
It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail.
23 HETH novae diluculo multa est fides tua
They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 HETH pars mea Dominus dixit anima mea propterea expectabo eum
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25 TETH bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum animae quaerenti illum
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 TETH bonum est praestolari cum silentio salutare Domini
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 TETH bonum est viro cum portaverit iugum ab adulescentia sua
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 IOTH sedebit solitarius et tacebit quia levavit super se
Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29 IOTH ponet in pulvere os suum si forte sit spes
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30 IOTH dabit percutienti se maxillam saturabitur obprobriis
Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31 CAPH quia non repellet in sempiternum Dominus
For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 CAPH quia si abiecit et miserebitur secundum multitudinem misericordiarum suarum
For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33 CAPH non enim humiliavit ex corde suo et abiecit filios hominis
For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34 LAMED ut contereret sub pedibus suis omnes vinctos terrae
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 LAMED ut declinaret iudicium viri in conspectu vultus Altissimi
to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 LAMED ut perverteret hominem in iudicio suo Dominus ignoravit
to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37 MEM quis est iste qui dixit ut fieret Domino non iubente
Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38 MEM ex ore Altissimi non egredientur nec mala nec bona
Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39 MEM quid murmuravit homo vivens vir pro peccatis suis
Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 NUN scrutemur vias nostras et quaeramus et revertamur ad Dominum
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41 NUN levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in caelos
Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 NUN nos inique egimus et ad iracundiam provocavimus idcirco tu inexorabilis es
“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
43 SAMECH operuisti in furore et percussisti nos occidisti nec pepercisti
“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
44 SAMECH opposuisti nubem tibi ne transeat oratio
You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45 SAMECH eradicationem et abiectionem posuisti me in medio populorum
You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
46 FE aperuerunt super nos os suum omnes inimici
“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47 FE formido et laqueus facta est nobis vaticinatio et contritio
Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
48 FE divisiones aquarum deduxit oculus meus in contritione filiae populi mei
My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 AIN oculus meus adflictus est nec tacuit eo quod non esset requies
My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
50 AIN donec respiceret et videret Dominus de caelis
until the LORD looks down, and sees from heaven.
51 AIN oculus meus depraedatus est animam meam in cunctis filiabus urbis meae
My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52 SADE venatione ceperunt me quasi avem inimici mei gratis
They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53 SADE lapsa est in lacu vita mea et posuerunt lapidem super me
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
54 SADE inundaverunt aquae super caput meum dixi perii
Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
55 COPH invocavi nomen tuum Domine de lacis novissimis
I called on your name, LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
56 COPH vocem meam audisti ne avertas aurem tuam a singultu meo et clamoribus
You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
57 COPH adpropinquasti in die quando invocavi te dixisti ne timeas
You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 RES iudicasti Domine causam animae meae redemptor vitae meae
Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
59 RES vidisti Domine iniquitatem adversum me iudica iudicium meum
LORD, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60 RES vidisti omnem furorem universas cogitationes eorum adversum me
You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
61 SEN audisti obprobria eorum Domine omnes cogitationes eorum adversum me
You have heard their reproach, LORD, and all their plans against me,
62 SEN labia insurgentium mihi et meditationes eorum adversum me tota die
the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63 SEN sessionem eorum et resurrectionem eorum vide ego sum psalmus eorum
You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64 THAU reddes eis vicem Domine iuxta opera manuum suarum
You will pay them back, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 THAU dabis eis scutum cordis laborem tuum
You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
66 THAU persequeris in furore et conteres eos sub caelis Domine
You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
