Lamentations 3
The speaker describes their suffering and affliction at the hands of God, who has driven them into darkness, crushed their bones, and enclosed their ways. Despite their cries for help, God seems to have turned against them, and they feel like a target for his arrows. However, the speaker holds onto hope, remembering God's mercies and faithfulness, and affirms that the Lord is their portion. They encourage others to wait in silence for God's salvation and to seek him, trusting that he will not rebuke forever and will have compassion according to his mercies.
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
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