Lamentationes 3
Biblia Sacra Vulgata
3 [Aleph.] Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus.
2 [Aleph.] Me minavit, et adduxit in tenebras, et non in lucem.
3 [Aleph.] Tantum in me vertit et convertit manum suam tota die.
4 [Beth.] Vetustam fecit pellem meam et carnem meam; contrivit ossa mea.
5 [Beth.] AEdificavit in gyro meo, et circumdedit me felle et labore.
6 [Beth.] In tenebrosis collocavit me, quasi mortuos sempiternos.
7 [Ghimel.] Circumaedificavit adversum me, ut non egrediar; aggravavit compedem meum.
8 [Ghimel.] Sed et cum clamavero, et rogavero, exclusit orationem meam.
9 [Ghimel.] Conclusit vias meas lapidibus quadris; semitas meas subvertit.
10 [Daleth.] Ursus insidians factus est mihi, leo in absconditis.
11 [Daleth.] Semitas meas subvertit, et confregit me; posuit me desolatam.
12 [Daleth.] Tetendit arcum suum, et posuit me quasi signum ad sagittam.
13 [He.] Misit in renibus meis filias pharetrae suae.
14 [He.] Factus sum in derisum omni populo meo, canticum eorum tota die.
15 [He.] Replevit me amaritudinibus; inebriavit me absinthio.
16 [Vau.] Et fregit ad numerum dentes meos; cibavit me cinere.
17 [Vau.] Et repulsa est a pace anima mea; oblitus sum bonorum.
18 [Vau.] Et dixi: Periit finis meus, et spes mea a Domino.
19 [Zain.] Recordare paupertatis, et transgressionis meae, absinthii et fellis.
20 [Zain.] Memoria memor ero, et tabescet in me anima mea.
21 [Zain.] Haec recolens in corde meo, ideo sperabo.
22 [Heth.] Misericordiae Domini, quia non sumus consumpti; quia non defecerunt miserationes ejus.
23 [Heth.] Novi diluculo, multa est fides tua.
24 [Heth.] Pars mea Dominus, dixit anima mea; propterea exspectabo eum.
25 [Teth.] Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum, animae quaerenti illum.
26 [Teth.] Bonum est praestolari cum silentio salutare Dei.
27 [Teth.] Bonum est viro cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia sua.
28 [Jod.] Sedebit solitarius, et tacebit, quia levavit super se.
29 [Jod.] Ponet in pulvere os suum, si forte sit spes.
30 [Jod.] Dabit percutienti se maxillam: saturabitur opprobriis.
31 [Caph.] Quia non repellet in sempiternum Dominus.
32 [Caph.] Quia si abjecit, et miserebitur, secundum multitudinem misericordiarum suarum.
33 [Caph.] Non enim humiliavit ex corde suo et abjecit filios hominum.
34 [Lamed.] Ut conteret sub pedibus suis omnes vinctos terrae.
35 [Lamed.] Ut declinaret judicium viri in conspectu vultus Altissimi.
36 [Lamed.] Ut perverteret hominem in judicio suo; Dominus ignoravit.
37 [Mem.] Quis est iste qui dixit ut fieret, Domino non jubente?
38 [Mem.] Ex ore Altissimi non egredientur nec mala nec bona?
39 [Mem.] Quid murmuravit homo vivens, vir pro peccatis suis?
40 [Nun.] Scrutemur vias nostras, et quaeramus, et revertamur ad Dominum.
41 [Nun.] Levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in caelos.
42 [Nun.] Nos inique egimus, et ad iracundiam provocavimus; idcirco tu inexorabilis es.
43 [Samech.] Operuisti in furore, et percussisti nos; occidisti, nec pepercisti.
44 [Samech.] Opposuisti nubem tibi, ne transeat oratio.
45 [Samech.] Eradicationem et abjectionem posuisti me in medio populorum.
46 [Phe.] Aperuerunt super nos os suum omnes inimici.
47 [Phe.] Formido et laqueus facta est nobis vaticinatio, et contritio.
48 [Phe.] Divisiones aquarum deduxit oculus meus, in contritione filiae populi mei.
49 [Ain.] Oculus meus afflictus est, nec tacuit, eo quod non esset requies.
50 [Ain.] Donec respiceret et videret Dominus de caelis.
51 [Ain.] Oculus meus depraedatus est animam meam in cunctis filiabus urbis meae.
52 [Sade.] Venatione ceperunt me quasi avem inimici mei gratis.
53 [Sade.] Lapsa est in lacum vita mea, et posuerunt lapidem super me.
54 [Sade.] Inundaverunt aquae super caput meum; dixi: Perii.
55 [Coph.] Invocavi nomen tuum, Domine, de lacu novissimo.
56 [Coph.] Vocem meam audisti; ne avertas aurem tuam a singultu meo et clamoribus.
57 [Coph.] Appropinquasti in die quando invocavi te; dixisti: Ne timeas.
58 [Res.] Judicasti, Domine, causam animae meae, redemptor vitae meae.
59 [Res.] Vidisti, Domine, iniquitatem illorum adversum me: judica judicium meum.
60 [Res.] Vidisti omnem furorem, universas cogitationes eorum adversum me.
61 [Sin.] Audisti opprobrium eorum, Domine, omnes cogitationes eorum adversum me.
62 [Sin.] Labia insurgentium mihi, et meditationes eorum adversum me tota die.
63 [Sin.] Sessionem eorum et resurrectionem eorum vide; ego sum psalmus eorum.
64 [Thau.] Redes eis vicem, Domine, juxta opera manuum suarum.
65 [Thau.] Dabis eis scutum cordis, laborem tuum.
66 [Thau.] Persequeris in furore, et conteres eos sub caelis, Domine.
Lamentations 3
EasyEnglish Bible
From trouble to hope[a]
3 I am the man who has seen trouble.
God punished me because he was angry with me.
2 He has led me into the dark.
There is no light, so I cannot see the right way.
3 He is completely against me.[b]
He causes me trouble all the time.
4 God has caused my skin and my whole body to become old.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has fought against me from every side.
He caused much trouble for me,
so that I am very sad.
6 He has brought me to this dark place.
So I am like a person who has been dead for a long time.
7 It is as if God has built high walls round me, and I cannot go out.
My troubles are very bad.
They hold me down like heavy chains.
8 I shout and I pray for help, but God does not listen.
9 On every road that I go along, he has put big rocks in my way.
I cannot go past them.
10 God is like a strong wild animal.
He hides and he waits for me by the path.
11 He is like an animal that catches me and pulls me off the path.
He tears me in pieces and then he leaves me without any help.
12 God is like a soldier with a bow and arrows.
He used his bow to shoot at me.
13 It was as if he shot me in the heart with his arrows.
14 All the people see me and laugh.
They even sing silly songs about me all the time.
15 God has caused my life to become a thing of pain.
It is as if he filled a cup with a very bitter drink for me.
16 It is as if he caused me to eat small stones, so that the stones broke my teeth.
Then he put me on the ground, and he pushed me down in the dirt.
17 He has taken peace away from my mind.
I cannot remember the happy days that I had before.
18 I tell myself, ‘Everything good has finished for me!
The things that I hoped for from the Lord have not come!’
19 Lord, please remember all my troubles, because I am sad.
Remember that I am very lonely.
My troubles are like poison for me.
20 I think about all those things,
and I feel small and alone.
21 But then I choose to remember God,
and this is my hope:[c]
22 The Lord's faithful love never comes to an end.
He never stops being kind to us.[d]
23 Every day, we can trust him to be kind again.
We know that he will do what he has promised to do.
24 ‘He is my Lord,’ I say to myself.
‘He is the reason why I can hope for good things.’
25 The Lord does good things for people who wait for him.
He is kind to everyone who looks for him.
26 It is good when people continue to hope.
It is good when they quietly wait for the Lord,
because he will save them.
27 It is also good for people to obey God when they are young.
They should work well for him.
28 Also, when the Lord causes them to be in trouble,
they should sit alone quietly.[e]
29 They should be humble in front of God.[f]
Then hope may come again.
30 If somebody hits them or insults them, they should accept it.[g]
31 The Lord does not turn against people for ever.
32 He does cause people to feel sad sometimes,
but he is sorry for us.
He is also very kind to us, because he loves us very much.
33 He does not enjoy seeing people who are in pain.
He does not enjoy causing trouble for them.[h]
34 Bad people may be cruel to those who are in prison.
35 They may turn against the Most High God and cheat people.
36 They may tell lies in court.
The Lord is not happy when he sees any of those bad things.
37 The Lord causes things to happen.
Nobody can cause things to happen without him.
38 The Most High God causes all things to happen.
He causes good things and bad things to happen when he speaks.
39 He only punishes us when we do wrong things.
We are still alive, so we should not be angry with God.
40 Instead, we should think a lot about what we do,
and we should turn back to the Lord again.
41 We should lift up our hands and pray to God in heaven.[i]
We should be honest with God and say to him,
42 ‘We have done wrong things,
and we have turned against you.
You have not forgiven us.
43 You have hidden yourself from us because you are angry.
You have followed us so that you could kill us.
You were not sorry about it.
44 You have hidden from us in a cloud.
So you do not listen to us when we talk to you.
45 You let people from other countries think bad things about us.
They think that we have no value.
We are like things that nobody can use any longer.
46 All our enemies have insulted us.
47 We have become afraid of them.
They have caught us and they have destroyed us and our things.’[j]
48 I weep, and my eyes are red with all my tears.
It is because the enemy has killed my people.
49 Tears come like a river from my eyes and they will not stop,
50 until the Lord looks down on us from heaven.
He will see us and he will help us.
51 I see what has happened to all the people in my city.
And so I am very sad.
52 My enemies had no reason to follow me.
But they caught me as they would catch a bird.
53 They put me alive into the well,
and they threw stones down on me.
54 The water covered my head.
Then I said, ‘I will soon die.’
55 I shouted your name, Lord,
when I was in the well.
56 ‘Please listen to me, Lord,’ I shouted.
‘Help me! Save me!’ I shouted,
and you heard me.
57 You came near to me when I prayed to you.
‘Do not be afraid,’ you said.
58 Lord, you have given me help.
You have paid the price to keep me alive.
59 You saw the bad things that they did to me.
So please agree with me that they were not fair!
60 You know all the bad things that they did to me.
And you know about all the bad things that they want to do to me.
61 You have heard their cruel words against me, Lord.
Yes, you know about all the bad things that they want to do to me.
62 These people have been cruel to me.
They attack me with cruel words every hour of the day.
63 Look at them as they sing cruel things about me.
They sing when they are sitting, and they sing when they are standing.
64 Punish them for what they have done, Lord.
65 Cause them to think that they cannot hope for anything good.
Cause bad things to happen to them.
66 Run after them angrily.
Kill them all because you are angry with them.
Let nobody on earth remember them any longer.
Footnotes
- 3:1 In this chapter, Jeremiah is speaking.
- 3:3 God may be angry with his people and he may punish them. He punishes them so that they learn from him. But they must not think that he has also stopped loving them. God is not against them, but he is against their sin.
- 3:21 Jeremiah begins to hope again. God's people think that God has forgotten to be kind.
- 3:22 Now Jeremiah is telling them true things about God. It is always good to believe God. We must remember what he has promised. And we should believe him even more when bad things happen to us.
- 3:28 God does not speak to us when we are talking all the time.
- 3:29 When people felt small or ashamed in front of God, they often lay down on the ground.
- 3:30 Jesus spoke about this too in Matthew 5:39.
- 3:33 God only wants people to learn from him. Then they can be happy.
- 3:41 Heaven is the name of God's home.
- 3:47 Jeremiah has suggested an honest way for the people to speak to God.
Lamentations 3
King James Version
3 I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He hath caused 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, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:
19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.
35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission.
50 Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou 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 imaginations against me.
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me;
62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64 Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.