Lamentations 3
1 ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation.
I [am] the man [who] 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 He hath led, and causeth to go [in] darkness, and without light.
3 ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long.
Surely against me He turneth back, He turneth His hand all the day.
4 BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.
He hath worn out my flesh and my skin. 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 up against me, And setteth round poverty and weariness.
6 BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead.
In dark places He hath caused me to dwell, As the dead of old.
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, and I go not out, He hath made heavy my fetter.
8 GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer.
Also when I call and cry out, He hath shut out my prayer.
9 GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths.
He hath hedged my ways with hewn work, My paths He hath made crooked.
10 DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding.
A bear lying in wait He [is] to me, A lion in secret hiding-places.
11 DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation.
My ways He is turning aside, and He pulleth me in pieces, He hath made me a desolation.
12 DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows.
He hath trodden His bow, And setteth me up as a mark for an arrow.
13 HE. He has shot into my kidneys the daughters of his quiver.
He hath caused to enter into my reins The sons of His quiver.
14 HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day.
I have been 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 filled me with bitter things, He hath filled me [with] wormwood.
16 VAU. And he has broken each one of my teeth; he has fed me with ashes.
And He breaketh with gravel my teeth, 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 castest off from peace my soul, I have forgotten prosperity.
18 VAU. And I said, “My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.”
And I say, Perished hath my strength and my hope from Jehovah.
19 ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
Remember my affliction and my mourning, Wormwood and gall!
20 ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me.
Remember well, and bow down doth my soul in me.
21 ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope.
This I turn to my heart — therefore I hope.
22 HETH. By the mercies of the Lord, we are not consumed. For his compassion has not passed away.
The kindnesses of Jehovah! For we have not been consumed, For not ended have His mercies.
23 HETH. I know it at first light; great is your faithfulness.
New every morning, abundant [is] thy faithfulness.
24 HETH. “The Lord is my portion,” said my soul. Because of this, I will wait for him.
My portion [is] Jehovah, hath my soul said, Therefore I hope for Him.
25 TETH. The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him.
Good [is] Jehovah to those waiting for Him, To the soul [that] seeketh Him.
26 TETH. It is good to stand ready in silence for the salvation of God.
Good! when one doth stay and stand still For the salvation of Jehovah.
27 TETH. It is good for a man, when he has carried the yoke from his youth.
Good for a man that he beareth a yoke in his youth.
28 JOD. He shall sit solitary and silent. For he has lifted it upon himself.
He sitteth alone, and is silent, For He hath laid [it] upon him.
29 JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope.
He putteth in the dust his mouth, if so be there is hope.
30 JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches.
He giveth to his smiter the cheek, He is filled with reproach.
31 CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever.
For the Lord doth not cast off to the age.
32 CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies.
For though He afflicted, yet He hath pitied, According to the abundance of His kindness.
33 CAPH. For he has not humiliated from his heart, nor has he thrown aside the sons of men,
For He hath not afflicted with His heart, Nor doth He grieve the sons of men.
34 LAMED. as if to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
To bruise under one's feet any bound ones of 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 judgment of a man, Over-against the face of the Most High,
36 LAMED. as if to pervert a man in his judgment: the Lord does not do this.
To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord hath not approved.
37 MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command?
Who [is] this — he hath said, and it is, [And] the Lord hath not commanded [it]?
38 MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
From the mouth of the Most High Go not forth the evils and the good.
39 MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins?
What — sigh habitually doth a living man, A man for his sin?
40 NUN. Let us examine our ways, and seek out, and return to the Lord.
We search our ways, and investigate, And turn back unto Jehovah.
41 NUN. Let us lift up our hearts, with our hands, toward the Lord in the heavens.
We lift up our heart on the hands unto God in the heavens.
42 NUN. We have acted sinfully, and we have provoked to wrath. About this, you are relentless.
We — we have transgressed and rebelled, Thou — 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 covered Thyself with anger, And dost pursue us; Thou hast slain — Thou hast not pitied.
44 SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through.
Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, So that prayer doth not pass through.
45 SAMECH. In the midst of the peoples, you have uprooted me and cast me out.
Offscouring and refuse Thou dost make us In the midst of the peoples.
46 PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us.
Opened against us their mouth have all our enemies.
47 PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief.
Fear and a snare hath been for us, Desolation and destruction.
48 PHE. My eye has brought forth streams of water at the contrition of the daughter of my people.
Rivulets of water go down my eye, 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 is poured out, And doth not cease without intermission,
50 AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens.
Till Jehovah looketh and seeth from the heavens,
51 AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city.
My 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.
Hunted me sore as a bird have my enemies without cause.
53 SADE. My life has fallen into a pit, and they have placed a stone over me.
They have cut off in a pit my life, And they cast a stone against me.
54 SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.”
Flowed have waters over my head, I have said, I have been cut off.
55 COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit.
I called Thy name, O Jehovah, from the lower pit.
56 COPH. You have heard my voice. Do not turn away your ear from my sobbing and my cries.
My voice Thou hast heard, Hide not Thine ear at my breathing — at my cry.
57 COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, “Fear not.”
Thou hast drawn near in the day I call Thee, Thou hast said, Fear not.
58 RES. You have judged, O Lord, the case of my soul. You are the Redeemer of my life.
Thou hast pleaded, O Lord, the pleadings of my soul, Thou hast redeemed my life.
59 RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case.
Thou hast seen, O Jehovah, my overthrow, 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 thoughts of 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 thoughts 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 my withstanders, Even their meditation against me all the day.
63 SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm.
Their sitting down, and their rising up, Behold attentively, I [am] their song.
64 THAU. You shall pay a recompense to them, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
Thou returnest to them the deed, O Jehovah, According to the work of their hands.
65 THAU. You shall give them a heavy shield of the heart: your hardship.
Thou givest to them a covered heart, Thy curse to them.
66 THAU. You shall pursue them in fury, and you shall destroy them under the heavens, O Lord.
Thou pursuest in anger, and destroyest them, From under the heavens of Jehovah!
