Lamentations 3 — NETB

א (Alef)

3Verse 1I am the man who has experienced affliction
from the rod of his wrath.
^{Verse 2}He drove me into captivity and made me walk
in darkness and not light.
^{Verse 3}He repeatedly attacks me,
he turns his hand against me all day long.

ב (Bet)

^{Verse 4}He has made my mortal skin waste away;
he has broken my bones.
^{Verse 5}He has besieged and surrounded me
with bitter hardship.
^{Verse 6}He has made me reside in deepest darkness
like those who died long ago.

ג (Gimel)

^{Verse 7}He has walled me in so that I cannot get out;
he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.
^{Verse 8}Also, when I cry out desperately for help,
he has shut out my prayer.
^{Verse 9}He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones;
he has made every path impassable.

ד (Dalet)

^{Verse 10}To me he is like a bear lying in ambush,
like a hidden lion stalking its prey.
^{Verse 11}He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces;
he has made me desolate.
^{Verse 12}He drew his bow and made me
the target for his arrow.

ה (He)

^{Verse 13}He shot his arrows
into my heart.
^{Verse 14}I have become the laughingstock of all people,
their mocking song all day long.
^{Verse 15}He has given me my fill of bitter herbs
and made me drunk with bitterness.

ו (Vav)

^{Verse 16}He ground my teeth in gravel;
he trampled me in the dust.
^{Verse 17}I am deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is.
^{Verse 18}So I said, “My endurance has expired;
I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord.”

ז (Zayin)

^{Verse 19}Remember my impoverished and homeless condition,
which is a bitter poison.
^{Verse 20}I continually think about this,
and I am depressed.
^{Verse 21}But this I call to mind;
therefore I have hope:

ח (Khet)

^{Verse 22}The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases;
his compassions never end.
^{Verse 23}They are fresh every morning;
your faithfulness is abundant!
^{Verse 24}“My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself,
so I will put my hope in him.

ט (Tet)

^{Verse 25}The Lord is good to those who trust in him,
to the one who seeks him.
^{Verse 26}It is good to wait patiently
for deliverance from the Lord.
^{Verse 27}It is good for a man
to bear the yoke while he is young.

י (Yod)

^{Verse 28}Let a person sit alone in silence,
when the Lord is disciplining him.
^{Verse 29}Let him bury his face in the dust;
perhaps there is hope.
^{Verse 30}Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him;
let him have his fill of insults.

כ (Kaf)

^{Verse 31}For the Lord will not
reject us forever.
^{Verse 32}Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us
according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.
^{Verse 33}For he is not predisposed to afflict
or to grieve people.

ל (Lamed)

^{Verse 34}To crush underfoot
all the earth’s prisoners,
^{Verse 35}to deprive a person of his rights
in the presence of the Most High,
^{Verse 36}to defraud a person in a lawsuit –
the Lord does not approve of such things!

מ (Mem)

^{Verse 37}Whose command was ever fulfilled
unless the Lord decreed it?
^{Verse 38}Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes –
both calamity and blessing?
^{Verse 39}Why should any living person complain
when punished for his sins?

נ (Nun)

^{Verse 40}Let us carefully examine our ways,
and let us return to the Lord.
^{Verse 41}Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven:
^{Verse 42}“We have blatantly rebelled;
you have not forgiven.”

ס (Samek)

^{Verse 43}You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us;
you killed without mercy.
^{Verse 44}You shrouded yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
^{Verse 45}You make us like filthy scum
in the estimation of the nations.

פ (Pe)

^{Verse 46}All our enemies have gloated over us;
^{Verse 47}Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.
^{Verse 48}Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.

ע (Ayin)

^{Verse 49}Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop;
there will be no break
^{Verse 50}until the Lord looks down from heaven
and sees what has happened.
^{Verse 51}What my eyes see grieves me –
all the suffering of the daughters in my city.

צ (Tsade)

^{Verse 52}For no good reason my enemies
hunted me down like a bird.
^{Verse 53}They shut me up in a pit
and threw stones at me.
^{Verse 54}The waters closed over my head;
I thought I was about to die.

ק (Qof)

^{Verse 55}I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit.
^{Verse 56}You heard my plea:
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!”
^{Verse 57}You came near on the day I called to you;
you said, “Do not fear!”

ר (Resh)

^{Verse 58}O Lord, you championed my cause,
you redeemed my life.
^{Verse 59}You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
pronounce judgment on my behalf!
^{Verse 60}You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me.

ש (Sin/Shin)

^{Verse 61}You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
^{Verse 62}My assailants revile and conspire
against me all day long.
^{Verse 63}Watch them from morning to evening;
I am the object of their mocking songs.

ת (Tav)

^{Verse 64}Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord,
according to what they have done.
^{Verse 65}Give them a distraught heart;
may your curse be on them!
^{Verse 66}Pursue them in anger and eradicate them
from under the Lord’s heaven.