Lamentaciones 3

¹ Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation. ² Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light. ³ Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day. ⁴ Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones. ⁵ Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour. ⁶ Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever. ⁷ Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy. ⁸ Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer. ⁹ 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.