Lamentations 3:1-66
א [Aleph]
3 I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of his fury.
2 He has driven me out and makes me walk in darkness, not in light.+
3 Indeed, he repeatedly brings his hand against me all day long.+
ב [Beth]
4 He has worn away my flesh and my skin;He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me; he has surrounded me with bitter poison+ and hardship.
6 He has forced me to sit in dark places, like men who died long ago.
ג [Gimel]
7 He has walled me in, so that I cannot escape;He has bound me with heavy copper fetters.+
8 And when I cry out desperately for help, he rejects* my prayer.+
9 He has blocked up my paths with hewn stones;He has made my roadways crooked.+
ד [Daleth]
10 He waits to ambush me like a bear, like a lion in hiding.+
11 He has forced me off the paths and torn me to pieces;*He has made me desolate.+
12 He has bent* his bow, and he sets me up as the target for the arrow.
ה [He]
13 He has pierced my kidneys with the arrows* of his quiver.
14 I have become a laughingstock to all the peoples, the theme of their song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter things and saturated me with wormwood.+
ו [Waw]
16 He breaks my teeth with gravel;He makes me cower in the ashes.+
17 You deprive me* of peace; I have forgotten what is good.
18 So I say: “My splendor has perished, as well as my expectation in Jehovah.”
ז [Zayin]
19 Remember my affliction and my homeless state,+ the wormwood and the bitter poison.+
20 You* will surely remember and bow low over me.+
21 I recall this in my heart; that is why I will show a waiting attitude.+
ח [Heth]
22 It is because of Jehovah’s loyal love that we have not come to our finish,+For his mercies never end.+
23 They are new each morning;+ your faithfulness is abundant.+
24 “Jehovah is my share,”+ I have said,* “that is why I will show a waiting attitude for him.”+
ט [Teth]
25 Good is Jehovah to the one hoping in him,+ to the person* who keeps seeking him.+
26 Good it is to wait in silence*+ for the salvation of Jehovah.+
27 Good it is for a man to carry the yoke during his youth.+
י [Yod]
28 Let him sit alone and keep silent when He lays it upon him.+
29 Let him put his mouth in the very dust;+ there may yet be hope.+
30 Let him give his cheek to the one striking him; let him have his fill of insults.
כ [Kaph]
31 For Jehovah will not cast us off forever.+
32 Although he has caused grief, he will also show mercy according to his abundant loyal love.+
33 For it is not in his heart to afflict or grieve the sons of men.+
ל [Lamed]
34 To crush beneath one’s feet all the prisoners of the earth,+
35 To deprive a man of justice in the presence of the Most High,+
36 To defraud a man in his legal case—Jehovah does not tolerate such things.
מ [Mem]
37 Who, then, can speak and have it happen unless Jehovah commands it?
38 From the mouth of the Most High,Bad things and good things do not go out together.
39 Why should a living person complain about the consequences of his sin?+
נ [Nun]
40 Let us examine and scrutinize our ways,+ and let us return to Jehovah.+
41 Let us lift up our hearts along with our hands to God in the heavens:+
42 “We have transgressed and rebelled,+ and you have not forgiven.+
ס [Samekh]
43 With anger you have blocked our approach;+You have pursued and killed us without compassion.+
44 You have blocked approach to yourself with a cloud, so that our prayer may not pass through.+
45 You make us offscouring and refuse among the peoples.”
פ [Pe]
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.+
47 Dread and pitfalls have become our lot,+ desolation and breakdown.+
48 Streams of water flow from my eyes over the breakdown of the daughter of my people.+
ע [Ayin]
49 My eyes weep without ceasing, without pausing,+
50 Until Jehovah looks down and sees from heaven.+
51 My eyes have brought me* grief because of all the daughters of my city.+
צ [Tsade]
52 Without cause my enemies have hunted me down like a bird.
53 They have silenced my life in the pit; they kept hurling stones at me.
54 Waters flowed over my head, and I said: “I am finished!”
ק [Qoph]
55 I called out your name, O Jehovah, from the depths of the pit.+
56 Hear my voice; do not shut your ear to my cry for help, for relief.
57 You drew near in the day that I called you. You said: “Do not be afraid.”
ר [Resh]
58 You have defended my cause,* O Jehovah, you have redeemed my life.+
59 You have seen, O Jehovah, the wrong done to me; please grant me justice.+
60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their schemes against me.
ש [Sin] or [Shin]
61 You have heard their taunts, O Jehovah, all their schemes against me,+
62 The lips of my opposers and their whispering against me all day long.
63 Look at them; whether they sit or stand, they mock me in their songs!
ת [Taw]
64 You will repay them, O Jehovah, according to their deeds.
65 You will make them hardhearted, as your curse to them.
66 You will pursue them in your anger and annihilate them from under the heavens of Jehovah.
Footnotes
^ Or “hinders; shuts out.”
^ Or possibly, “makes me lie fallow.”
^ Lit., “trodden.”
^ Lit., “sons.”
^ Or “my soul.”
^ Or “Your soul.”
^ Or “my soul says.”
^ Or “soul.”
^ Or “to wait patiently.”
^ Or “my soul.”
^ Or “the legal cases of my soul.”