Lamentations 3/איכה ג׳

2It is I who was driven on and onIn unrelieved darkness;

3On none but me God’s hand descendsAgain and again, without cease.

4ב My flesh and skin has been worn away;My bones have been shattered.

6I am made to dwell in darkness,Like those long dead.

7ג I have been walled in and I cannot break out;And am weighed down with chains.

8And when I cry and plead,[God] shuts out my prayer—

9Walling in my ways with hewn blocks,And making my paths a maze.

10ד A lurking bear [God] is to me,A lion in hiding—

12[God] has bent the bow and made meThe target of divine arrows—

13ה Shooting into my vitalsA quiver’s shafts.

14I have become a laughingstock to all people,The butt of their gibes all day long.

15I have been filled with bitterness,And sated with wormwood.

16ו [God] has broken my teeth on gravel,Has ground me into the dust.

17My life was bereft of peace,I forgot what happiness was.

18I thought my strength and hopeHad perished before GOD.

19ז To recall my distress and my miseryWas wormwood and poison;

20Whenever I thought of them,I was bowed low.

21But this do I call to mind,Therefore I have hope:

22ח The kindness of GOD has not ended,And God’s mercies are not spent.

23They are renewed every morning—Ample is Your grace!

24“GOD is my portion,” I say with full heart;This is the One in whom I have hope.

25ט Good comes to those who trust in GOD,To the one who seeks God’s presence;

26It is good to wait patientlyTill rescue comes from GOD.

27It is good for a man, when young,To bear a yoke;

28י Let him sit alone and be patient,When it is laid upon him.

29Let him put his mouth to the dust—There may yet be hope.

30Let him offer his cheek to the aggressor;Let him be surfeited with mockery.

31כ For the Sovereign does notReject forever,

32But first afflicts, then pardonsIn abundant kindness.

34ל Crushing underfootAll the prisoners of the earth.

35To deny a man his rightsIn the presence of the Most High,

36To wrong a man in his cause—This the Sovereign does not choose.

37מ Whose decree was ever fulfilled,Unless the Sovereign willed it?

38Is it not at the word of the Most High,That weal and woe befall?

39Of what shall a living man complain?Each one of his own sins!

40נ Let us search and examine our ways,And turn back to GOD;

42We have transgressed and rebelled,And You have not forgiven.

43ס You have clothed Yourself in anger and pursued us,You have slain without pity.

44You have screened Yourself off with a cloud,That no prayer may pass through.

45You have made us filth and refuseIn the midst of the peoples.

46פ All our enemies loudlyRail against us.

47Panic and pitfall are our lot,Death and destruction.

49ע My eyes shall flow without cease,Without respite,

50Until GOD looks downAnd beholds from heaven.

52צ My foes have snared me like a bird,Without any cause.

53They have ended my life in a pitAnd cast stones at me.

54Waters flowed over my head;I said: I am lost!

55ק I have called on Your name, O ETERNAL One,From the depths of the Pit.

56Hear my plea;Do not shut Your earTo my groan, to my cry!

57You have ever drawn nigh when I called You;You have said, “Do not fear!”

58ר You championed my cause, O my Sovereign,You have redeemed my life.

59You have seen, O ETERNAL One, the wrong done me;Oh, vindicate my right!

60You have seen all their malice,All their designs against me;

61ש You have heard, O ETERNAL One, their taunts,All their designs against me,

62The mouthings and chattering of my adversariesAgainst me all day long.

63See how, at their ease or at work,I am the butt of their gibes.

64ת Give them, O ETERNAL One, their desertsAccording to their deeds.

66Oh, pursue them in wrath and destroy themFrom under GOD’s heavens!