Lamentations 3

¹ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation

²ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light

³ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long

⁴BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones

⁵BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship

⁶BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead

⁷GHIMEL. He has built against me all around, so that I may not depart. He has increased the burden of my confinement

⁸GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer

⁹GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths

¹⁰DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding

¹¹DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation

¹²DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows

¹³HE. He has shot into my kidneys the daughters of his quiver

¹⁴HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day

¹⁵HE. He has filled me with bitterness; he has inebriated me with wormwood

¹⁶VAU. And he has broken each one of my teeth; he has fed me with ashes

¹⁷VAU. And my soul has been driven away from peace; I have forgotten what is good

¹⁸VAU. And I said, “My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.

¹⁹ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall

²⁰ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me

²¹ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope

²²HETH. By the mercies of the Lord, we are not consumed. For his compassion has not passed away

²³HETH. I know it at first light; great is your faithfulness

²⁴HETH. “The Lord is my portion,” said my soul. Because of this, I will wait for him

²⁵TETH. The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him

²⁶TETH. It is good to stand ready in silence for the salvation of God

²⁷TETH. It is good for a man, when he has carried the yoke from his youth

²⁸JOD. He shall sit solitary and silent. For he has lifted it upon himself

²⁹JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope

³⁰JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches

³¹CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever

³²CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies

³³CAPH. For he has not humiliated from his heart, nor has he thrown aside the sons of men

³⁴LAMED. as if to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land

³⁵LAMED. as if to turn aside the judgment of a man in the sight of the presence of the Most High

³⁶LAMED. as if to pervert a man in his judgment: the Lord does not do this

³⁷MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command

³⁸MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High

³⁹MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins

⁴⁰NUN. Let us examine our ways, and seek out, and return to the Lord

⁴¹NUN. Let us lift up our hearts, with our hands, toward the Lord in the heavens

⁴²NUN. We have acted sinfully, and we have provoked to wrath. About this, you are relentless

⁴³SAMECH. You have covered us in your fury, and you have struck us. You have killed, and have not spared

⁴⁴SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through

⁴⁵SAMECH. In the midst of the peoples, you have uprooted me and cast me out

⁴⁶PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us

⁴⁷PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief

⁴⁸PHE. My eye has brought forth streams of water at the contrition of the daughter of my people

⁴⁹AIN. My eye has been afflicted, and it has not been quieted, because there would be no res

⁵⁰AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens

⁵¹AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city

⁵²SADE. My enemies have chased me, and they have caught me like a bird, without reason

⁵³SADE. My life has fallen into a pit, and they have placed a stone over me

⁵⁴SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.

⁵⁵COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit

⁵⁶COPH. You have heard my voice. Do not turn away your ear from my sobbing and my cries

⁵⁷COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, “Fear not.

⁵⁸RES. You have judged, O Lord, the case of my soul. You are the Redeemer of my life

⁵⁹RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case

⁶⁰RES. You have seen all their fury, every one of their thoughts is against me

⁶¹SIN. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their thoughts are against me

⁶²SIN. The lips of those who rise up against me, and their meditations, are against me all day long

⁶³SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm

⁶⁴THAU. You shall pay a recompense to them, O Lord, according to the works of their hands

⁶⁵THAU. You shall give them a heavy shield of the heart: your hardship

⁶⁶THAU. You shall pursue them in fury, and you shall destroy them under the heavens, O Lord