Lamentations 3
Lexham English Bible
Israel’s Affliction
3 I am a man who has seen misery,
under the rod of his wrath.
2 He has driven me along, he brought
darkness and not light.
3 Surely he has turned his hand against me,
all day long.
4 He has worn out my flesh and skin,
he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged[a] and engulfed me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 In darkness he has let me dwell
like the dead of long ago.
7 He has built a wall around me, I cannot go out;
he has made my bronze fetters heavy.
8 Though I cry out for help,
he shuts out my prayers.
9 He has blocked my ways with dressed stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 To me he is like a bear lying in wait,
a lion in hiding.
11 He has forsaken my way and torn me to pieces;
he has caused me desolation.
12 He has bent his bow and set me
as the target for the arrow.
13 He shot the arrows of his quiver[b]
into my kidneys.
14 I have become a laughingstock for all the people,
their mocking song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
he has drenched me with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth on grit,
he has trampled me down in ash.
17 My life has been removed from peace,
I have forgotten goodness.
18 And I have said, “My glory is ruined,
my expectation from Yahweh.”
19 Remember my misery and bitterness,
the wormwood[c] and venom!
20 Surely my soul remembers
and bows down within me.
21 This I have reminded myself,[d]
therefore I will hope.
22 The loyal love of Yahweh does not cease;
his compassions do not come to an end.
23 They are new in the morning,
great is your faithfulness.
24 “Yahweh is my portion,”
says my soul,
“Thus I will hope on him.”
25 Yahweh is good to those who wait on him,
to the person that seeks him.
26 It is good to wait in silence
for the salvation of Yahweh.
27 It is good for a man who carries
the yoke of his childhood.
28 Let him sit alone and be silent
when he[e] has laid it on him.
29 Let him put[f] his mouth in the dust;
perhaps there is hope.
30 Let him give a cheek to his smiter,
let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For the Lord will not reject
forever.
32 For even though he causes grief he has compassion
according to the greatness of his royal love.
33 He does not afflict willingly,[g]
or grieve anyone.[h]
34 To crush under his feet
all the prisoners of the earth;
35 to deprive one of justice[i]
before the face of the Most High;
36 to subvert a person in a legal dispute
—the Lord has not found delight in these things.
37 Who can speak[j] and it will happen
if the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that disaster and good will come?
39 Why should any living person complain
about his sin?
40 Let us test and examine our ways;
let us return to Yahweh.
41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands
to God in the heavens.
42 We ourselves have transgressed and rebelled,
you have not forgiven.
43 You have covered yourself in anger[k] and pursued us,
you have slain and not shown mercy.
44 You have covered yourself in a cloud
so that prayer cannot pass through.[l]
45 You have made us scum and refuse
in the midst of the nations.
46 All our enemies
have opened their mouth against us.
47 Fear and a pit have come upon us,
desolation and destruction.
48 Channels of water run down my eyes
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes have poured down unceasingly
without respite,
50 until Yahweh looks down
and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes inflict my soul
because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies hunt me without cause,
like a bird.
53 They have silenced me in a pit,[m]
they have thrown a stone at me.
54 Water has flown over my head,
I said, “I am cut off.”
55 I have called your name, O Yahweh,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You have heard my cry, “Do not shut your ear
to my cry for help, for my relief!”
57 You came near on a day when I called you,
you said, “Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, you have pleaded for my cause,[n]
you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen my injustice, O Yahweh;
judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all there plans against me.
61 You have heard their disgrace, O Yahweh,
all their plans against me.
62 The lips and meditation of my assailants
are against me all day long.
63 Look at their sitting and their standing,
I am their mocking song.
64 Return to them what is deserved, O Yahweh,
according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them a stubborn heart;
curse them!
66 Pursue them in anger[o] and destroy them
from under the heavens of Yahweh.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:5 Literally “he has built against”
- Lamentations 3:13 Literally “the offspring of his arrow quiver”
- Lamentations 3:19 Or “the bitter substance”
- Lamentations 3:21 Literally “I have brought back to my heart”
- Lamentations 3:28 Yahweh
- Lamentations 3:29 Literally “him give”
- Lamentations 3:33 Literally “afflict from the heart”
- Lamentations 3:33 Literally “the sons of men”
- Lamentations 3:35 Literally “to turn aside the judgment of a man”
- Lamentations 3:37 Literally “Who is this that speaks”
- Lamentations 3:43 Literally “in the nose”
- Lamentations 3:44 Literally “from a passing prayer”
- Lamentations 3:53 Literally “they have put to silence my life in a pit”
- Lamentations 3:58 Literally “the legal disputes of my soul”
- Lamentations 3:66 Literally “in nose”
Lamentations 3
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
3 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.
6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.
10 Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.
11 Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
12 Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.
13 He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
14 He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.
15 He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.
16 Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.
17 Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
18 Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
19 Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall.
20 Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.
21 Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.
22 Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.
23 Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
24 Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.
25 Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
27 Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.
28 Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
29 Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
30 Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.
31 Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32 Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.
34 Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
35 Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,
36 Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.
37 Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?
39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
40 Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
41 Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.
42 Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.
43 Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
44 Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.
45 Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
48 Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:
50 Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
51 Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.
53 Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.
54 Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.
55 Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
56 Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
57 Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
58 Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.
59 Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.
60 Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.
61 Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.
62 Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.
63 Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.
64 Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
65 Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
66 Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.
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