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 by the rod of his wrath.
2 ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light.
Me hath he led, and brought into darkness, and not into light.
3 ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long.
Surely against me hath he turned again and again his hand all the day.
4 BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.
My flesh and my skin hath he wasted away, he hath broken my bones.
5 BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship.
He hath built against me, and encompassed [me] with gall and toil.
6 BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead.
He hath made me to dwell in dark places as 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 hath hedged me about 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.
Even when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths.
He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding.
He is unto me [as] a bear lying in wait, a lion in secret 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 pulled 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 arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day.
I am become a derision 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 sated 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.
And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I have forgotten prosperity.
18 VAU. And I said, “My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.”
And I said, My strength is perished, and my hope in Jehovah.
19 ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
Remember thou mine affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20 ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me.
My soul hath [them] constantly in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope.
— This I recall to heart, 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 Jehovah's loving-kindness we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not;
23 HETH. I know it at first light; great is your faithfulness.
they are 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 will 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 unto them that wait for 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 one should both wait, and that in silence, for the salvation of 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.
He sitteth solitary and keepeth silence, because he hath laid it upon him;
29 JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope.
he putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope;
30 JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches.
he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him; he is filled full with reproach.
31 CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever.
For the Lord will not cast off for ever;
32 CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies.
but if he have caused grief, he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses:
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 or grieve the children of men.
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 turn aside 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.
to wrong a man in his cause, — will not the Lord see it?
37 MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command?
Who is he that saith, and there cometh to pass, what the Lord hath not commanded?
38 MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
Out of the mouth of the Most High doth not there proceed evil and good?
39 MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins?
Wherefore doth 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 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 heart with [our] hands unto 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: thou hast not pardoned.
43 SAMECH. You have covered us in your fury, and you have struck us. You have killed, and have not spared.
Thou hast covered thyself with anger, and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not spared.
44 SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through.
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that prayer should 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 peoples.
46 PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us.
All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.
47 PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief.
Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and ruin.
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 ruin 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 poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens.
till Jehovah look down and behold from the heavens.
51 AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city.
Mine eye affecteth my soul, 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 that are mine enemies without cause have chased me sore like a bird.
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 cast a stone upon me.
54 SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.”
Waters streamed over my head; I said, I am cut off.
55 COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit.
I called upon thy name, Jehovah, out of the lowest pit.
56 COPH. You have heard my voice. Do not turn away your ear from my sobbing and my cries.
Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my sighing, at my cry.
57 COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, “Fear not.”
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.
58 RES. You have judged, O Lord, the case of my soul. You are the Redeemer of my life.
Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul, thou hast redeemed my life.
59 RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case.
Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60 RES. You have seen all their fury, every one of their thoughts is against me.
Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their imaginations against me.
61 SIN. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their thoughts are against me.
Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, all their imaginations 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 rise up against me and their meditation against me all the day.
63 SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm.
Behold thou 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 unto them a recompence, 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 obduracy of heart, thy curse unto them;
66 THAU. You shall pursue them in fury, and you shall destroy them under the heavens, O Lord.
pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.
