Lamentations 3

1 Aleph — I am the man who sees poverty beneath the rod of his anger.

2 He took me and led me into darkness, not light.

3 He turns his hand against me all day long.

4 Beth — He aged my flesh and skin and shattered my bones.

5 He built against me, surrounded my head, and brought hardship on me.

6 He seated me in dark places like those long dead.

7 Gimel — He built a wall around me so I cannot escape, and he made my bronze chain heavy.

8 Even when I cry out and shout, he shuts out my prayer.

9 He built up my roads, blocked my paths, and threw me into confusion.

10 Daleth — He is a she-bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding.

11 He pursued me when I turned aside, stopped me, and left me ruined.

12 He bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow.

13 He — He drove the arrows of his quiver into my kidneys.

14 I became a laughingstock to all my people, the subject of their song all day.

15 He filled me with bitterness and drenched me with gall.

16 Vau — He smashed my teeth with gravel and fed me ashes.

17 He drove my soul away from peace, and I forgot good things.

18 I said, “My victory and my hope from the Lord have perished.”

19 Zain — I remembered my poverty and persecution, my bitterness and gall.

20 My soul will remember and meditate within me.

21 I will lay this in my heart; therefore I will endure.

25 Teth — The Lord is good to those who wait for him, good to the soul that seeks him.

26 It will wait and quietly expect the Lord’s rescue.

27 It is good for a man to bear a yoke in his youth.

28 Jod — He will sit alone and remain silent because he has taken it on himself.

30 He will offer his cheek to the one who strikes him and be filled with reproaches.

31 Chaph — The Lord will not reject forever.

32 The one who brought him low will pity him according to the abundance of his mercy.

33 He did not answer from his heart, yet he brought low the sons of man.

34 Lamed — To bring all the prisoners of earth down beneath his feet,

35 to turn aside a man’s judgment before the face of the Most High,

36 or to condemn a man in his case—the Lord did not say so.

37 Mem — Who has spoken and made it happen when the Lord did not command it?

38 Do not both evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

39 Why should a living man complain about his sin?

40 Nun — Our way has been searched out and examined; let us turn to the Lord.

41 Let us lift our hearts in our hands to the Most High in heaven.

42 We have sinned and acted ungodly, and you were not merciful.

43 Samech — You covered us in anger and drove us away. You killed and did not spare.

44 You covered yourself with a cloud because of prayer.

45 You made us blind and cast off in the midst of the peoples.

46 Ain — All our enemies opened their mouths against us.

47 Fear and anger came upon us, upheaval and destruction.

48 My eye pours down streams of water because the daughter of my people is shattered.

49 Phe — My eye is drowned in tears. I will not be silent or find rest

50 until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.

51 My eye gleans against my soul because of all the daughters of the city.

52 Tsade — My enemies hunted me like a bird for no reason.

53 They destroyed my life in a pit and placed a stone over me.

54 Water flowed over my head, and I said, “I have been cast off.”

55 Koph — I called on your name, Lord, from the lowest pit.

56 You heard my voice. Do not close your ears to my plea.

57 You came near to help me on the day I called to you. You told me, “Do not fear.”

58 Resh — Lord, you pleaded the cases of my soul and ransomed my life.

59 You saw my troubles, Lord, and judged my case.

60 You saw all their vengeance and all their plans against me.

61 Sin — You heard their reproach and all their plans against me,

62 the words of those who rose against me and their schemes against me all day,

63 whether they sit down or rise. Look into their eyes.

64 Thau — Repay them, Lord, according to the works of their hands.

65 Repay them with a covering over the heart, your hardship upon them.

66 Pursue them in anger and consume them from beneath heaven, Lord.