📖 Lamentations 3
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1
א(Alef) The Prophet Speaks: I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of his wrath.
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2
He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light.
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3
He repeatedly attacks me, he turns his hand against me all day long.
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4
ב(Bet) He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones.
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5
He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship.
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6
He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago.
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7
ג(Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.
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8
Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer.
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9
He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable.
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10
ד(Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey.
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11
He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate.
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12
He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow.
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13
ה(He) He shot his arrows into my heart.
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14
I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long.
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15
He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness.
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16
ו(Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust.
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17
I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.
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18
So I said,“My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the LORD.”
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19
ז(Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison.
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20
I continually think about this, and I am depressed.
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21
But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope:
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22
ח(Khet) The LORD’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.
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23
They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!
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24
“My portion is the LORD,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.
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25
ט(Tet) The LORD is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.
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26
It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the LORD.
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27
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
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28
י(Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the LORD is disciplining him.
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29
Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope.
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30
Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults.
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31
כ(Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever.
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32
Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.
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33
For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people.
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34
ל(Lamed) To crush underfoot all the earth’s prisoners,
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35
to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High,
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36
to defraud a person in a lawsuit– the Lord does not approve of such things!
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37
מ(Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it?
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38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes– both calamity and blessing?
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39
Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?
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40
נ(Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the LORD.
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41
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:
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42
“We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven.”
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43
ס(Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy.
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44
You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
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45
You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations.
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46
פ(Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us;
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47
Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
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48
Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
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49
ע(Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break
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50
until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.
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51
What my eyes see grieves me– all the suffering of the daughters in my city.
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52
צ(Tsade) For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird.
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53
They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me.
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54
The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.
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55
ק(Qof) I have called on your name, O LORD, from the deepest pit.
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56
You heard my plea:“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!”
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57
You came near on the day I called to you; you said,“Do not fear!”
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58
ר(Resh) O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life.
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59
You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; pronounce judgment on my behalf!
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60
You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
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61
ש(Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me.
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62
My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.
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63
Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs.
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64
ת(Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to what they have done.
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65
Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them!
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66
Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the LORD’s heaven.