Beginning

³⁷ Who is this that said (Who is this who said), that a thing should be done, when the Lord commandeth (it) not?

³⁸ Neither goods neither evils shall go out of the mouth of the Highest. (Do not both good and evil go out from the mouth of the Most High?)

³⁹ What grutched a man living, a man (punished) for his sins? (Why grumble a living man, when he is punished for his sins?)

⁴⁰ Search we our ways, and seek we, and turn we again to the Lord. (Consider all that we do, and seek we the truth about it, and then turn we again to the Lord.)

⁴¹ Raise we our hearts with hands, to the Lord into heavens. (Raise we up our hearts with our hands, to the Lord in heaven.)

⁴² We have done wickedly, and have stirred thee to wrath; therefore thou art not able to be prayed (to).

⁴³ Thou coveredest in strong vengeance, and smitedest us (and hast struck us); thou killedest (us), and sparedest (us) not.

⁴⁴ Thou settedest a cloud to thee, that prayer pass not. (Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that prayers cannot pass through.)

⁴⁵ Thou settedest me, drawing up by the root, and casting out, in the midst of [the] peoples. (Thou hast made us, as if drawn up by the root, and cast out, in the midst of the peoples.)

⁴⁶ All [the] enemies opened their mouth on us. (All the enemies have opened their mouths against us.)

⁴⁷ Inward dread and snare is made to us, prophecy and defouling. (Inward fear and snare be made upon us, and prophecy and defiling.)

⁴⁸ Mine eyes led down partings of waters, for the defouling of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ Mine eye was tormented, and was not still; for no rest was. (My eyes were tormented, and were not still; for there was no rest,)

⁵⁰ Until the Lord beheld, and saw from heavens. (until the Lord beheld, and saw from heaven.)

⁵¹ Mine eye robbed my soul in all the daughters of my city. (My heart is grieved at what befell all the daughters of my city.)

⁵² Mine enemies took me without cause, by hunting (me) as a bird. (My enemies had no reason to be against me, yet they hunted me down like a bird.)

⁵³ My life slid into a pit; and they putted a stone on me.

⁵⁴ Waters flowed over mine head; I said, I perish.

⁵⁵ Lord, I called to help thy name, from the last pit. (Lord, I called thy name for help, from the deepest pit/from the bottom of the pit.)

⁵⁶ Thou heardest my voice; turn thou not away thine ear from my sobbing and cries.

⁵⁷ Thou nighedest to me in the day, wherein I called thee to help; thou saidest, Dread thou not. (Thou came to me on the day, when I called to thee for help; thou saidest, Fear thou not.)

⁵⁸ Lord, again-buyer of my life, thou deemedest the cause of my soul. (Lord, the Redeemer of my life, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul/thou hast pleaded my soul’s case.)

⁵⁹ Lord, thou sawest the wickedness of them against me; deem thou my doom (judge thou my judgement/judge thou my justice).

⁶⁰ Thou sawest all the strong vengeance, all the thoughts of them against me.

⁶¹ Lord, thou heardest the shames of them (Lord, thou heardest their abuse); all the thoughts of them against me.

⁶² The lips of men rising against me, and the thoughts of them against me all day (long).

⁶³ See thou the sitting and (the) rising again of them; I am the psalm of them (I am their song of mocking).

⁶⁴ Lord, thou shalt yield while to them, by the works of their hands. (Lord, thou shalt punish them, according to the works of their hands.)

⁶⁵ Thou shalt give to them the shield of heart, thy travail. (Give thou them much sorrow of heart, and thy trials and tribulation.)

⁶⁶ Lord, thou shalt pursue them in thy strong vengeance, and thou shalt defoul them under heavens (and thou shalt utterly defile them under the heavens).

4 How is gold made dark, the best colour is changed? the stones of the saintuary be scattered in the head of all streets. (How the gold is made dark, the best colour is changed! the stones from the sanctuary be scattered at the head, or at the top, of every street.)

² The noble sons of Zion, and clothed with the best gold, how be they areckoned into earthen vessels, into the work of the hands of a potter? (The noble sons of Zion, and clothed with the best gold, how they be reckoned like clay vessels, yea, the work of the hands of a potter!)

³ But also lamias made naked their teats, gave milk to their whelps; (but) the daughter of my people is cruel, as an ostrich in desert (like an ostrich in the wilderness).

⁴ The tongue of the sucking child cleaved to his palate in thirst; little children asked (for) bread, and none was that brake to them (but no one gave them any).

⁵ They that ate lustfully, perished in ways; they that were nourished in cradles, embraced turds. (They who ate lustfully, perished on the ways; they who were nourished in cradles, hung onto dung.)

⁶ And the wickedness of the daughter of my people is made more than the sin of (the) men of Sodom, that was destroyed in a moment, and hands took not therein.

⁷ (The) Nazarites thereof were whiter than snow, shininger than milk; ruddier than eld ivory, fairer than sapphire (redder than old ivory, more beautiful than sapphire).

⁸ The face of them was made blacker than coals, and they were not known in (the) streets; the skin cleaved to their bones, it dried, and was made as a stick (it dried up, and was made like a stick).

⁹ It was better to men slain with sword, than to men slain with hunger; for these men waxed rotten, they were wasted of the barrenness of [the] earth. (It was better for those who were killed with the sword, than for those killed by hunger; for these people slowly grew rotten, and they wasted away for the barrenness of the land.)

¹⁰ The hands of merciful women seethed their children; they were made the meats of those women in the sorrow of the daughter of my people. (The hands of merciful women boiled their own children; they were made the food for those women in the horror of the wounding of my people.)

¹¹ The Lord [ful]filled his strong vengeance, he shedded out the ire of his indignation (he poured out his anger); and the Lord kindled a fire in Zion, and it devoured the foundaments thereof.

¹² The kings of [the] earth, and all the dwellers of the world believed not (and all the inhabitants of the world could not believe it), that an adversary and [the] enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ For the sins of the prophets thereof, and for [the] wickednesses of priests thereof, that shedded out the blood of just men in the midst thereof. (For the sins of its prophets, and for the wickednesses of its priests, who poured out the blood of the just in its midst.)

¹⁴ Blind men erred in streets, they were defouled in blood (They wandered about like the blind in the streets, they were defiled in blood); and when they might not go, they held (onto) their hems.

¹⁵ They cried to them, Depart away, ye defouled men, depart ye, go ye away, do not ye touch; forsooth they chided, and were stirred; they said among heathen men (they said among the heathen), God shall no more add to, that he dwell among them.

¹⁶ The face of the Lord parted them, he shall no more lay to, that he behold them; they were not ashamed of the faces of priests, neither they had mercy on eld men (they were not ashamed before the priests, nor did they have any mercy for the elders).

¹⁷ The while we stood yet, our eyes failed to our vain help; when we beheld attentive to a folk, that might not save us. (Yet while we stood, our eyes looked in vain for our help; we looked attentively for a nation, that could not save us.)

¹⁸ Our steps were slidery in the way of our streets; our end nighed, our days were [ful]filled, for our end came.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of heaven; they pursued us on [the] hills, they setted ambushments to us in desert. (Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they pursued us over the hills, they set ambush for us in the wilderness.)

²⁰ The spirit of our mouth, Christ the Lord, was taken in our sins; to whom we said, We shall live in thy shadow among heathen men. (The very breath of our mouth, yea, the Lord’s anointed king, was caught in their sins; he of whom we had said, We shall live under thy shadow, among the heathen.)

²¹ Thou daughter of Edom, make joy, and be glad, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup shall come also to thee, thou shalt be made drunken, and shalt be made bare. (O daughter of Edom, rejoice, and be happy, thou who livest in the land of Uz; the cup shall also come to thee, and thou shalt be made drunk, and shalt be made naked.)

²² Thou daughter of Zion, thy wickedness is [ful]filled; he shall not add more, that he make thee to pass over (again into captivity); thou daughter of Edom, he shall visit thy wickedness, he shall uncover thy sins (O daughter of Edom, he shall punish thy wickedness, he shall uncover thy sins).

5 Lord, have thou mind what befell to us (Lord, remember what hath happened to us); see thou, and behold our shame.

² Our heritage is turned to aliens, our houses be turned to strangers. (Our inheritance is turned, or given, over to foreigners, our houses be turned over to strangers.)

³ We be made fatherless children without (a) father; our mothers be as widows (our mothers be like widows).

⁴ We drank our water for money, we bought our wood for silver. (We must buy our water to drink with money, and we must buy our wood to burn with silver.)

⁵ We were driven by our heads, and rest was not given to faint men. (The yoke is upon our necks, and rest is not given to the weary.)

⁶ We gave (the) hand to Egypt, and to Assyrians, that we should be [ful]filled with bread. (We put forth our hands to Egypt, and to Assyria, for food to eat.)

⁷ Our fathers sinned, and be not, and we bare the wickednesses of them (Our forefathers sinned, and be not, and we carry their wickednesses.)

⁸ Servants were lords of us, and none was, that again-bought from the hand of them. (Servants be our lords, and there is no one who can rescue us from their hands.)

⁹ In our lives we brought bread to us, from the face of [the] sword in desert. (Risking our lives, we brought in food for us, from the face of the sword in the wilderness.)

¹⁰ Our skin is burnt as a furnace, of the face of tempests of hunger. (Our skin is burned like from a furnace, from being buffeted by the tempests of hunger.)

¹¹ They made low (the) women in Zion, and (the) virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹² Princes were hanged [up] by the hand; they were not ashamed of the faces of eld men. (Our leaders were hung up by their hands; no one showed any honour to the old men, or the elders.)

¹³ They misused young waxing men unchastely, and children fell down in (the) tree. (They used the young men unchastely, and children fell down under loads of wood.)

¹⁴ Eld men failed from [the] gates; young men failed from the quire of singers. (Old men no longer sit at the city gates; young men no longer sing in the choir.)

¹⁵ The joy of our heart failed; our song is turned into mourning.

¹⁶ The crown of our head fell down (The crowns have fallen from our heads); woe to us! for we (all have) sinned.

¹⁷ Therefore our heart is made sorrowful, therefore our eyes be made dark.

¹⁸ For the hill of Zion, for it perished; foxes went in it. (For Mount Zion, for it hath perished; and now foxes run all over it.)

¹⁹ But thou, Lord, shalt dwell without end; thy seat shall dwell in generation and into generation. (But thou, Lord, shalt live forever; thy throne shall remain for all generations.)

²⁰ Why shalt thou forget us [into] without end, shalt thou forsake us into [the] length of days? (Why hast thou forgotten us for so long, shalt thou abandon us forever?)

²¹ Lord, convert thou us to thee, and we shall be converted; make thou new our days, as at the beginning. (Lord, turn thou us back to thee, and we shall come back to thee; renew thou our days, like at the beginning.)

²² But thou casting away hast cast away us; thou art wroth against us greatly. (But thou casting away hath cast us away; thou still hath great anger against us.)