Lamentations 3

1Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.● 2Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.● 3Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.● 4Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.● 5Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall, and labour.● 6Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.● 7Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.● 8Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.● 9Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.● 10Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.● 11Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.● 12Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.● 13He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.● 14He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.● 15He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.● 16Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.● 17Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.● 18Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.● 19Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood and the gall.● 20Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.● 21Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.● 22Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.● 23Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.● 24Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.● 25Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.● 26Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.● 27Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.● 28Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.● 29Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.● 30Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.● 31Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.● 32Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.● 33Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.● 34Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,● 35Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,● 36Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.● 37Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?● 38Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?● 39Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?● 40Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.● 41Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.● 42Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.● 43Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.● 44Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.● 45Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.● 46Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.● 47Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.● 48Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.● 49Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:● 50Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.● 51Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.● 52Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.● 53Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.● 54Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.● 55Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.● 56Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.● 57Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.● 58Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.● 59Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.● 60Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.● 61Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.● 62Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.● 63Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.● 64Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.● 65Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.● 66Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.●