Lamentations 3

CHAPTER 3

Jeremiah’s Heavy Chain

Aleph

¹I am the man who has ^aseen affliction

Because of the rod of His wrath.

²He has driven me and made me walk

In ^adarkness and not in light.

³Surely against me He has ^aturned His hand

Repeatedly all the day.

Beth

⁴He has caused my ^aflesh and my skin to waste away;

He has ^bbroken my bones.

⁵He has ^abesieged and encompassed me with ^bgall and hardship.

^6aDark places He has made me inhabit,

Like those who have long been dead.

Gimel

⁷He has ^awalled me in so that I cannot go out;

He has made my ^1bchain heavy.

⁸Even when I cry out and call for help,

He ^ashuts out my prayer.

⁹He has ^ablocked my ways with cut stone;

He has made my paths crooked.

Daleth

¹⁰He is to me like a bear lying in wait,

Like a lion in secret places.

¹¹He has turned aside my ways and ^atorn me to pieces;

He has made me desolate.

¹²He ^abent His bow

And ^bset me as a target for the arrow.

He

¹³He made the ¹arrows of His ^aquiver

To enter into my ²inward parts.

¹⁴I have become a ^alaughingstock to all my people,

Their ^bmusic of mockery all the day.

¹⁵He has ^asaturated me with bitterness;

He has sated me with wormwood.

Vav

¹⁶He has ^abroken my teeth with ^bgravel;

He has made me cower in the ^cdust.

¹⁷My soul has been rejected ^afrom peace;

I have forgotten goodness.

¹⁸So I say, “My strength has perished,

As well as my ^ahopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh.”

The Lord Will Not Reject Forever

Zayin

¹⁹Remember my affliction and my ¹homelessness, the ^awormwood and gall.

²⁰Surely ^amy soul remembers

And is ^bbowed down within me.

²¹This I will return to my heart;

Therefore I will ^await in hope.

Heth

²²The ^alovingkindnesses of Yahweh ¹indeed never cease,

^bFor His compassions never fail.

²³They are new ^aevery morning;

Great is ^bYour faithfulness.

²⁴“Yahweh is my ^aportion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I ^bwait for Him.”

Teth

²⁵Yahweh is good to those who ^ahope in Him,

To the soul who ^bseeks Him.

²⁶It is good that he ^awaits silently

For the salvation of Yahweh.

²⁷It is good for a man that he should bear

The yoke in his youth.

Yodh

²⁸Let him ^asit alone and be silent

Since He has laid it on him.

²⁹Let him ¹put his mouth in the ^adust;

Perhaps there is ^bhope.

³⁰Let him give his ^acheek to the one who strikes him;

Let him be saturated with reproach.

Kaph

³¹For the Lord will ^anot reject forever,

³²For if He causes grief,

Then He will have ^acompassion

According to His abundant lovingkindness.

³³For He ^adoes not afflict from His heart

Or grieve the sons of men.

Lamedh

³⁴To crush under His feet

All the prisoners of the ¹land,

³⁵To ¹deprive a man of ^ajustice

In the presence of the Most High,

³⁶To ^1adefraud a man in his legal case—

These things the Lord does not see with approval.

Mem

³⁷Who is ¹there who speaks and it ^ahappens,

Unless the Lord has commanded it?

³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

That ^aboth calamities and ¹good go forth?

³⁹Why should any living ¹person or any man

^aComplain because of his sins?

Nun

⁴⁰Let us ^asearch out and examine our ways,

And let us return to Yahweh.

⁴¹We ^alift up our heart to our hands

Toward God in heaven;

⁴²We have ^atransgressed and rebelled;

You have ^bnot pardoned.

Samekh

⁴³You have covered Yourself with ^aanger

And ^bpursued us;

You have killed and ^chave not spared.

⁴⁴You have ^acovered Yourself with a cloud

So that ^bno prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us mere ^ascum and refuse

In the midst of the peoples.

Pe

⁴⁶All our enemies have ^aopened their mouths against us.

^47aPanic and pitfall have befallen us,

Devastation and destruction;

⁴⁸My ^1aeyes run down with streams of water

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Ayin

⁴⁹My eyes pour down ^aunceasingly,

Without stopping,

⁵⁰Until Yahweh ^alooks down

And sees from heaven.

⁵¹My eyes deal severely with my soul

Because of all the daughters of my city.

Tsadhe

⁵²My enemies ^awithout cause

Hunted me down ^blike a bird;

⁵³They have silenced my life ^ain the pit

And have ^1bplaced a stone on me.

⁵⁴Waters flowed ^aover my head;

I said, “I am cut off!”

Qoph

⁵⁵I ^acalled on Your name, O Yahweh,

Out of the lowest pit.

⁵⁶You have ^aheard my voice,

“^bDo not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,

From my cry for help.”

⁵⁷You ^adrew near when I called on You;

You said, “^bDo not fear!”

Resh

⁵⁸O Lord, You ^ahave pleaded my soul’s cause;

You have ^bredeemed my life.

⁵⁹O Yahweh, You have ^aseen my oppression;

^bJudge my case.

⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,

All their ^apurposes against me.

Sin / Shin

⁶¹You have heard their ^areproach, O Yahweh,

All their purposes against me.

⁶²The ^alips of those who rise against me and their whispering

Are against me all day long.

⁶³Look on their ^asitting and their rising;

^bI am their mocking song.

Tav

⁶⁴You will ^arecompense them, O Yahweh,

According to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵You will give them ^1adullness of heart;

Your curse will be on them.

⁶⁶You will ^apursue them in anger and destroy them

From under the ^bheavens of Yahweh!