Lamentations, 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.