Lamentations 3
Louis Segond
3 Je suis l'homme qui a vu la misère Sous la verge de sa fureur.
2 Il m'a conduit, mené dans les ténèbres, Et non dans la lumière.
3 Contre moi il tourne et retourne sa main Tout le jour.
4 Il a fait dépérir ma chair et ma peau, Il a brisé mes os.
5 Il a bâti autour de moi, Il m'a environné de poison et de douleur.
6 Il me fait habiter dans les ténèbres, Comme ceux qui sont morts dès longtemps.
7 Il m'a entouré d'un mur, pour que je ne sorte pas; Il m'a donné de pesantes chaînes.
8 J'ai beau crier et implorer du secours, Il ne laisse pas accès à ma prière.
9 Il a fermé mon chemin avec des pierres de taille, Il a détruit mes sentiers.
10 Il a été pour moi un ours en embuscade, Un lion dans un lieu caché.
11 Il a détourné mes voies, il m'a déchiré, Il m'a jeté dans la désolation.
12 Il a tendu son arc, et il m'a placé Comme un but pour sa flèche.
13 Il a fait entrer dans mes reins Les traits de son carquois.
14 Je suis pour tout mon peuple un objet de raillerie, Chaque jour l'objet de leurs chansons.
15 Il m'a rassasié d'amertume, Il m'a enivré d'absinthe.
16 Il a brisé mes dents avec des cailloux, Il m'a couvert de cendre.
17 Tu m'as enlevé la paix; Je ne connais plus le bonheur.
18 Et j'ai dit: Ma force est perdue, Je n'ai plus d'espérance en l'Éternel!
19 Quand je pense à ma détresse et à ma misère, A l'absinthe et au poison;
20 Quand mon âme s'en souvient, Elle est abattue au dedans de moi.
21 Voici ce que je veux repasser en mon coeur, Ce qui me donnera de l'espérance.
22 Les bontés de l'Éternel ne sont pas épuisés, Ses compassions ne sont pas à leur terme;
23 Elles se renouvellent chaque matin. Oh! que ta fidélité est grande!
24 L'Éternel est mon partage, dit mon âme; C'est pourquoi je veux espérer en lui.
25 L'Éternel a de la bonté pour qui espère en lui, Pour l'âme qui le cherche.
26 Il est bon d'attendre en silence Le secours de l'Éternel.
27 Il est bon pour l'homme De porter le joug dans sa jeunesse.
28 Il se tiendra solitaire et silencieux, Parce que l'Éternel le lui impose;
29 Il mettra sa bouche dans la poussière, Sans perdre toute espérance;
30 Il présentera la joue à celui qui le frappe, Il se rassasiera d'opprobres.
31 Car le Seigneur Ne rejette pas à toujours.
32 Mais, lorsqu'il afflige, Il a compassion selon sa grande miséricorde;
33 Car ce n'est pas volontiers qu'il humilie Et qu'il afflige les enfants des hommes.
34 Quand on foule aux pieds Tous les captifs du pays,
35 Quand on viole la justice humaine A la face du Très Haut,
36 Quand on fait tort à autrui dans sa cause, Le Seigneur ne le voit-il pas?
37 Qui dira qu'une chose arrive, Sans que le Seigneur l'ait ordonnée?
38 N'est-ce pas de la volonté du Très Haut que viennent Les maux et les biens?
39 Pourquoi l'homme vivant se plaindrait-il? Que chacun se plaigne de ses propres péchés.
40 Recherchons nos voies et sondons, Et retournons à l'Éternel;
41 Élevons nos coeurs et nos mains Vers Dieu qui est au ciel:
42 Nous avons péché, nous avons été rebelles! Tu n'as point pardonné!
43 Tu t'es caché dans ta colère, et tu nous as poursuivis; Tu as tué sans miséricorde;
44 Tu t'es enveloppé d'un nuage, Pour fermer accès à la prière.
45 Tu nous as rendus un objet de mépris et de dédain Au milieu des peuples.
46 Ils ouvrent la bouche contre nous, Tous ceux qui sont nos ennemis.
47 Notre partage a été la terreur et la fosse, Le ravage et la ruine.
48 Des torrents d'eau coulent de mes yeux, A cause de la ruine de la fille de mon peuple.
49 Mon oeil fond en larmes, sans repos, Sans relâche,
50 Jusqu'à ce que l'Éternel regarde et voie Du haut des cieux;
51 Mon oeil me fait souffrir, A cause de toutes les filles de ma ville.
52 Ils m'ont donné la chasse comme à un oiseau, Ceux qui sont à tort mes ennemis.
53 Ils ont voulu anéantir ma vie dans une fosse, Et ils ont jeté des pierres sur moi.
54 Les eaux ont inondé ma tête; Je disais: Je suis perdu!
55 J'ai invoqué ton nom, ô Éternel, Du fond de la fosse.
56 Tu as entendu ma voix: Ne ferme pas l'oreille à mes soupirs, à mes cris!
57 Au jour où je t'ai invoqué, tu t'es approché, Tu as dit: Ne crains pas!
58 Seigneur, tu as défendu la cause de mon âme, Tu as racheté ma vie.
59 Éternel, tu as vu ce qu'on m'a fait souffrir: Rends-moi justice!
60 Tu as vu toutes leurs vengeances, Tous leurs complots contre moi.
61 Éternel, tu as entendu leurs outrages, Tous leurs complots contre moi,
62 Les discours de mes adversaires, et les projets Qu'ils formaient chaque jour contre moi.
63 Regarde quand ils sont assis et quand ils se lèvent: Je suis l'objet de leurs chansons.
64 Tu leur donneras un salaire, ô Éternel, Selon l'oeuvre de leurs mains;
65 Tu les livreras à l'endurcissement de leur coeur, A ta malédiction contre eux;
66 Tu les poursuivras dans ta colère, et tu les extermineras De dessous les cieux, ô Éternel!
Lamentations 3
1599 Geneva Bible
3 1 I am the man that hath seen [a]affliction in the rod of his indignation.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not to light.
3 Surely he is turned against me: he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he caused to wax old, and he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath [b]built against me, and compassed me with gall and labor.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead forever.
7 He hath hedged about me, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chains heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my [c]prayer.
9 He hath [d]stopped up my ways with hewn stone, and turned away my paths.
10 [e]He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath stopped my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and made me a mark for the arrow.
13 He caused [f]the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness, and made me drunken with [g]wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with stones, and hath covered me with ashes.
17 Thus my soul was far off from peace: I forgot prosperity,
18 And I said, My strength and my [h]hope is perished from the Lord,
19 Remembering mine affliction, and my mourning, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them in remembrance, and is humbled [i]in me.
21 I consider this in mine heart: therefore have I hope.
22 It is the Lord’s [j]mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are renewed [k]every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my [l]portion, saith my soul: therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that trust in him, and to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good both to trust, and to wait for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his [m]youth.
28 He sitteth alone, [n]and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his [o]mouth in the dust, if there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproaches.
31 For the Lord will not forsake forever.
32 But though he send affliction, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not [p]punish [q]willingly, nor afflict the children of men,
34 In stamping under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 In overthrowing the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 In subverting a man in his cause: the Lord [r]seeth it not.
37 Who is he then that saith, and it cometh to pass, and the Lord [s]commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not [t]evil and good?
39 Wherefore then is the living [u]man sorrowful? man suffereth for his sin.
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up [v]our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have sinned, and have rebelled, therefore thou hast not spared.
43 Thou hast covered us with wrath, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, and not spared.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the (A)offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.
47 Fear, and a snare is come upon us with desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye casteth out rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye droppeth without stay, and ceaseth not,
50 Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye [w]breaketh mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have shut up my life[x]in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head, then thought I, I am destroyed.
55 I called upon thy Name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: stop not thine ear from my sigh, and from my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidest, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast maintained the cause of my [y]soul, and hast redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong, judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, and all their devises against me:
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me.
62 The lips also of those that rose against me, and their whispering against me continually.
63 Behold, their sitting down, and their rising up, how I am their song.
64 (B)Give them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them [z]sorrow of heart even thy curse to them.
66 Persecute with wrath and destroy them from under the heaven, O Lord.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:1 The Prophet complaineth of the punishments and afflictions that he endured by the false prophets and hypocrites, when he declared the destruction of Jerusalem, as Jer. 20:1, 2.
- Lamentations 3:5 He speaketh this, as one that felt God’s heavy judgment, which he greatly feared, and therefore setteth them out with this diversity of words.
- Lamentations 3:8 This is a great tentation to the godly when they see not the fruit of their prayers, and causeth them to think that they are not heard, which thing God useth to do, that they might pray more earnestly and the oftener.
- Lamentations 3:9 And keepeth me in hold as a prisoner.
- Lamentations 3:10 He hath no pity on me.
- Lamentations 3:13 Hebrew, sons.
- Lamentations 3:15 With great anguish and sorrow he hath made me to lose my sense.
- Lamentations 3:18 Thus with pain he was driven to and fro between hope and despair, as the godly ofttimes are, yet in the end the spirit getteth the victory.
- Lamentations 3:20 He showeth that God thus useth to exercise his, to the intent that hereby they may know themselves, and feel his mercies.
- Lamentations 3:22 Considering the wickedness of man, it is [a] marvel that any remaineth alive: but only that God for his own mercy’s sake and for his promise, will ever have his Church to remain, though they be never so few in number, Isa. 1:9.
- Lamentations 3:23 We feel thy benefits daily.
- Lamentations 3:24 The godly put their whole confidence in God, and therefore look for none other inheritance, as Ps. 16:5.
- Lamentations 3:27 He showeth that we can never begin too timely to be exercised under the cross, that when the afflictions grow greater, our patience also by experience may be stronger.
- Lamentations 3:28 He murmureth not against God, but is patient.
- Lamentations 3:29 He humbleth himself as they that fall down with their face to the ground, and so with patience waiteth for succor.
- Lamentations 3:33 He taketh no pleasure in it, but doeth it of necessity for our amendment, when he suffereth the wicked to oppress the poor.
- Lamentations 3:33 Hebrew, with his heart.
- Lamentations 3:36 He doth not delight therein.
- Lamentations 3:37 He showeth that nothing is done without God’s providence.
- Lamentations 3:38 That is, adversity and prosperity, Amos 3:6.
- Lamentations 3:39 When God afflicteth him.
- Lamentations 3:41 That is, both hearts and hands: for else to lift up the hands, is but hypocrisy.
- Lamentations 3:51 I am overcome with sore weeping for all my people.
- Lamentations 3:53 Read Jer. 37:16, how he was in the miry dungeon.
- Lamentations 3:58 Meaning, the cause wherefore his life was in danger.
- Lamentations 3:65 Or, an obstinate heart.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
