Sep 2 - Lamentations 3-5
Lamentations
1ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation2ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light3ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long4BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones5BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship6BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead7GHIMEL. He has built against me all around, so that I may not depart. He has increased the burden of my confinement8GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer9GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths10DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding11DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation12DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows13HE. He has shot into my kidneys the daughters of his quiver14HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day15HE. He has filled me with bitterness; he has inebriated me with wormwood16VAU. And he has broken each one of my teeth; he has fed me with ashes17VAU. And my soul has been driven away from peace; I have forgotten what is good18VAU. And I said, "My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.19ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall20ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me21ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope22HETH. By the mercies of the Lord, we are not consumed. For his compassion has not passed away23HETH. I know it at first light; great is your faithfulness24HETH. "The Lord is my portion," said my soul. Because of this, I will wait for him25TETH. The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him26TETH. It is good to stand ready in silence for the salvation of God27TETH. It is good for a man, when he has carried the yoke from his youth28JOD. He shall sit solitary and silent. For he has lifted it upon himself29JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope30JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches31CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever32CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies33CAPH. For he has not humiliated from his heart, nor has he thrown aside the sons of men34LAMED. as if to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land35LAMED. as if to turn aside the judgment of a man in the sight of the presence of the Most High36LAMED. as if to pervert a man in his judgment: the Lord does not do this37MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command38MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High39MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins40NUN. Let us examine our ways, and seek out, and return to the Lord41NUN. Let us lift up our hearts, with our hands, toward the Lord in the heavens42NUN. We have acted sinfully, and we have provoked to wrath. About this, you are relentless43SAMECH. You have covered us in your fury, and you have struck us. You have killed, and have not spared44SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through45SAMECH. In the midst of the peoples, you have uprooted me and cast me out46PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us47PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief48PHE. My eye has brought forth streams of water at the contrition of the daughter of my people49AIN. My eye has been afflicted, and it has not been quieted, because there would be no res50AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens51AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city52SADE. My enemies have chased me, and they have caught me like a bird, without reason53SADE. My life has fallen into a pit, and they have placed a stone over me54SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, "I am lost.55COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit56COPH. You have heard my voice. Do not turn away your ear from my sobbing and my cries57COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, "Fear not.58RES. You have judged, O Lord, the case of my soul. You are the Redeemer of my life59RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case60RES. You have seen all their fury, every one of their thoughts is against me61SIN. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their thoughts are against me62SIN. The lips of those who rise up against me, and their meditations, are against me all day long63SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm64THAU. You shall pay a recompense to them, O Lord, according to the works of their hands65THAU. You shall give them a heavy shield of the heart: your hardship66THAU. You shall pursue them in fury, and you shall destroy them under the heavens, O Lord
1ALEPH. O how the gold has become dulled, the finest color has been altered, the stones of the sanctuary have been scattered at the head of every street2BETH. The famous sons of Zion, and those clothed with the foremost gold: how they have become like earthen vessels, the work of the hands of a potter3GHIMEL. Yet even savages expose their breast and give milk to their young. But the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert4DALETH. The tongue of the infant adheres to his palate out of thirst. The little ones have asked for bread, and there was no one to break it for them5HE. Those who were fed indulgently have passed away in the roads. Those who were nourished with saffron have welcomed filth6VAU. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and yet hands did not take captives in her7ZAIN. Her Nazirites were whiter than snow, shinier than milk, more ruddy than ancient ivory, more beautiful than sapphire8HETH. Their face has been blacked more than coals, and they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has adhered to their bones; it dried out and became like wood9TETH. It was better for those slain by the sword, than for those put to death by famine. For these waste away, being consumed by the sterility of the land10JOD. The hands of pitiable women have boiled their sons. They became their food in the grief of the daughter of my people11CAPH. The Lord has completed his fury; he has poured out the wrath of his indignation. And he has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured its foundations12LAMED. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, did not believe that the adversary and the enemy would enter through the gates of Jerusalem13MEM. It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the just in her midst14NUN. They have wandered in the streets like the blind; they have been defiled with blood. And when they were not able, they held their garments15SAMECH. "Go back, you polluted ones!" they cried out to them. "Go back, go away, do not touch!" Of course, they argued, and being removed, they said among the Gentiles, "He will no longer dwell among them.16PHE. The face of the Lord has divided them. He will no longer respect them. They were not ashamed before the faces of the priests, nor did they take pity on the elderly17AIN. While we were still standing, our eyes failed, expecting help for us in vain, when we looked attentively toward a nation that was not able to save18SADE. Our footsteps have slipped on the paths of our own streets. Our end draws near. Our days have been completed, for our end has arrived19COPH. Our persecutors have been swifter than the eagles of the sky. They have been pursuing us above the mountains; they have lain in wait for us in the desert20RES. The spirit of our mouth, Christ the Lord, has been captured by our sins; to him, we said, "In your shadow, we will live among the Gentiles.21SIN. Be glad and rejoice, O daughter of Edom, who dwells in the Land of Uz. The cup will also pass to you; you will be inebriated as well as naked22THAU. Your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion. He will no longer send you away to captivity. He has visited your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he has uncovered your sins
1Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us. Consider and look kindly upon our disgrace2Our inheritance has been turned over to foreigners; our houses to outsiders3We have become orphans without a father; our mothers are like widows4We paid for our drinking water. We acquired our wood for a price5We were dragged by our necks. Being weary, no rest was given to us6We have given our hand to Egypt and to the Assyrians, so that we may be satisfied with bread7Our fathers have sinned, and are not. And we have carried their iniquities8Servants have become rulers over us. There was no one to redeem us from their hand9We obtained our bread at the risk of our lives, before the face of the sword, in the wilderness10Our skin was burned, as if by an oven, before the face of the tempest of the famine11They humiliated the women in Zion and the virgins in the cities of Judah12The leaders were suspended by their hand. They were not ashamed before the faces of the elders13They have sexually abused the adolescents, and the children were corrupted in the wood14The elders have ceased from the gates, the youths from the choir of the psalms15The gladness of our heart has failed, our singing has been turned into mourning16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned17Because of this, our heart became gloomy; for this reason, our eyes have been darkened18because of mount Zion, because it was ruined. Foxes have wandered upon it19But you, O Lord, shall remain for eternity, your throne from generation to generation20Why would you forget us forever? Why would you forsake us for a long time21Convert us, O Lord, to you, and we shall be converted. Renew our days, as from the beginning22But you have utterly rejected us; you are vehemently angry against us