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Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.

Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.

Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.

Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.

Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.

Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.

Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.

Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.

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.

[a]I am the man who has seen affliction(A)
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(B)
He has driven me away and made me walk
    in darkness(C) rather than light;
indeed, he has turned his hand against me(D)
    again and again, all day long.

He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(E)
    and has broken my bones.(F)
He has besieged me and surrounded me
    with bitterness(G) and hardship.(H)
He has made me dwell in darkness
    like those long dead.(I)

He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(J)
    he has weighed me down with chains.(K)
Even when I call out or cry for help,(L)
    he shuts out my prayer.(M)
He has barred(N) my way with blocks of stone;
    he has made my paths crooked.(O)

10 Like a bear lying in wait,
    like a lion(P) in hiding,(Q)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(R) me
    and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(S)
    and made me the target(T) for his arrows.(U)

13 He pierced(V) my heart
    with arrows from his quiver.(W)
14 I became the laughingstock(X) of all my people;(Y)
    they mock me in song(Z) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
    and given me gall to drink.(AA)

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(AB)
    he has trampled me in the dust.(AC)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
    I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”(AD)

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
    the bitterness(AE) and the gall.(AF)
20 I well remember them,
    and my soul is downcast(AG) within me.(AH)
21 Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love(AI) we are not consumed,(AJ)
    for his compassions never fail.(AK)
23 They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.(AL)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(AM)
    therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;(AN)
26 it is good to wait quietly(AO)
    for the salvation of the Lord.(AP)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
    while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence,(AQ)
    for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(AR)
    there may yet be hope.(AS)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(AT)
    and let him be filled with disgrace.(AU)

31 For no one is cast off
    by the Lord forever.(AV)
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
    so great is his unfailing love.(AW)
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
    or grief to anyone.(AX)

34 To crush underfoot
    all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
    before the Most High,(AY)
36 to deprive them of justice—
    would not the Lord see such things?(AZ)

37 Who can speak and have it happen
    if the Lord has not decreed it?(BA)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
    that both calamities and good things come?(BB)
39 Why should the living complain
    when punished for their sins?(BC)

40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(BD)
    and let us return to the Lord.(BE)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
    to God in heaven,(BF) and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled(BG)
    and you have not forgiven.(BH)

43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued(BI) us;
    you have slain without pity.(BJ)
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud(BK)
    so that no prayer(BL) can get through.(BM)
45 You have made us scum(BN) and refuse
    among the nations.

46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
    wide(BO) against us.(BP)
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,(BQ)
    ruin and destruction.(BR)
48 Streams of tears(BS) flow from my eyes(BT)
    because my people are destroyed.(BU)

49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
    without relief,(BV)
50 until the Lord looks down
    from heaven and sees.(BW)
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
    because of all the women of my city.

52 Those who were my enemies without cause
    hunted me like a bird.(BX)
53 They tried to end my life in a pit(BY)
    and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,(BZ)
    and I thought I was about to perish.(CA)

55 I called on your name, Lord,
    from the depths(CB) of the pit.(CC)
56 You heard my plea:(CD) “Do not close your ears
    to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near(CE) when I called you,
    and you said, “Do not fear.”(CF)

58 You, Lord, took up my case;(CG)
    you redeemed my life.(CH)
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.(CI)
    Uphold my cause!(CJ)
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
    all their plots against me.(CK)

61 Lord, you have heard their insults,(CL)
    all their plots against me—
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter
    against me all day long.(CM)
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing,
    they mock me in their songs.(CN)

64 Pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
    for what their hands have done.(CO)
65 Put a veil over their hearts,(CP)
    and may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue(CQ) them in anger and destroy them
    from under the heavens of the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.