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The Lamentations of Jeremiah

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1
ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation.(a)
2
ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light.
3
ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long.
4
BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.
5
BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship.
6
BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead.
7
GHIMEL. He has built against me all around, so that I may not depart. He has increased the burden of my confinement.(b)
8
GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer.
9
GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths.
10
DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding.
11
DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation.
12
DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows.
13
HE. He has shot into my kidneys the daughters of his quiver.(c)
14
HE. I have become a derision to all my people, their song throughout the day.
15
HE. He has filled me with bitterness; he has inebriated me with wormwood.
16
VAU. And he has broken each one of my teeth; he has fed me with ashes.
17
VAU. And my soul has been driven away from peace; I have forgotten what is good.
18
VAU. And I said, “My end and my hope from the Lord has perished.”

The Prophet’s Hope

19
ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
20
ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me.
21
ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope.
22
HETH. By the mercies of the Lord, we are not consumed. For his compassion has not passed away.
23
HETH. I know it at first light; great is your faithfulness.
24
HETH. “The Lord is my portion,” said my soul. Because of this, I will wait for him.
25
TETH. The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him.
26
TETH. It is good to stand ready in silence for the salvation of God.
27
TETH. It is good for a man, when he has carried the yoke from his youth.
28
JOD. He shall sit solitary and silent. For he has lifted it upon himself.
29
JOD. He shall place his mouth in the dirt, if perhaps there may be hope.
30
JOD. He shall give his cheek to those who strike him; he shall be saturated with reproaches.
31
CAPH. For the Lord will not rebuke forever.
32
CAPH. For, if he has cast down, he will also have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies.
33
CAPH. For he has not humiliated from his heart, nor has he thrown aside the sons of men,
34
LAMED. as if to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
35
LAMED. as if to turn aside the judgment of a man in the sight of the presence of the Most High,
36
LAMED. as if to pervert a man in his judgment: the Lord does not do this.(d)

God’s Justice

37
MEM. Who is this, who said to do what the Lord did not command?
38
MEM. Does not both misfortune and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?
39
MEM. Why has a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins?
40
NUN. Let us examine our ways, and seek out, and return to the Lord.
41
NUN. Let us lift up our hearts, with our hands, toward the Lord in the heavens.
42
NUN. We have acted sinfully, and we have provoked to wrath. About this, you are relentless.
43
SAMECH. You have covered us in your fury, and you have struck us. You have killed, and have not spared.
44
SAMECH. You have set a cloud opposite you, lest our prayer pass through.
45
SAMECH. In the midst of the peoples, you have uprooted me and cast me out.(e)
46
PHE. All our enemies have opened their mouths over us.
47
PHE. Prediction has become for us a dread, and a snare, and a grief.
48
PHE. My eye has brought forth streams of water at the contrition of the daughter of my people.
49
AIN. My eye has been afflicted, and it has not been quieted, because there would be no rest
50
AIN. until the Lord looked down and saw from the heavens.
51
AIN. My eye has exhausted my soul over every one of the daughters of my city.(f)
52
SADE. My enemies have chased me, and they have caught me like a bird, without reason.
53
SADE. My life has fallen into a pit, and they have placed a stone over me.
54
SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.”
55
COPH. I called upon your name, O Lord, from the furthest pit.
56
COPH. You have heard my voice. Do not turn away your ear from my sobbing and my cries.
57
COPH. You drew near in the daytime, when I called upon you. You said, “Fear not.”
58
RES. You have judged, O Lord, the case of my soul. You are the Redeemer of my life.
59
RES. You have seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. Judge my case.
60
RES. You have seen all their fury, every one of their thoughts is against me.
61
SIN. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their thoughts are against me.
62
SIN. The lips of those who rise up against me, and their meditations, are against me all day long.
63
SIN. Watch their sitting down and their rising up: I am their psalm.
64
THAU. You shall pay a recompense to them, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
65
THAU. You shall give them a heavy shield of the heart: your hardship.
66
THAU. You shall pursue them in fury, and you shall destroy them under the heavens, O Lord.

Fußnoten

(a)3:1 The man is Jerusalem personified, or the nation of Israel personified. In Lamentations, the text sometimes uses the first person singular as if Jerusalem were speaking.(Conte)
(b)3:7 Or, more literally, ‘He has aggravated my shackles.’ The repeated references to building around ‘me,’ i.e. the city of Jerusalem, indicate that the city, in the future will have very many buildings, businesses, and homes built around it, as far as the eye can see. It also indicates the metaphor of siege works being built around the city, for the city of Jerusalem, and the Faith, will be as if under siege from the surrounding secular society, culture, and politics.(Conte)
(c)3:13 The kidneys are symbolic of one’s temperament.(Conte)
(d)3:36 The Lord is ignorant of such things, in the sense that He does not do them. A lack of action is a type of ignorance, as when the Virgin Mary said that she did not know man.(Conte)
(e)3:45 Or, more literally, ‘You have set me as refuse and as an outcast in the midst of the people.’(Conte)
(f)3:51 The daughters of the city are the smaller town and cities related to Jerusalem.(Conte)
1
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2
He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3
Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4
He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5
He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6
He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7
He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8
Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9
He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10
He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11
He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12
He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13
He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14
I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15
He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16
He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17
You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18
I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from the LORD.”

The Prophet’s Hope

19
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20
My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21
This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22
It is because of The LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail.
23
They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28
Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30
Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31
For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32
For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33
For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35
to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36
to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.

God’s Justice

37
Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38
Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39
Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41
Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God (a) in the heavens.
42
“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
43
“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
44
You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45
You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
46
“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47
Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
48
My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49
My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
50
until the LORD looks down, and sees from heaven.
51
My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52
They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
54
Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
55
I called on your name, LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
56
You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
57
You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58
Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
59
LORD, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60
You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
61
You have heard their reproach, LORD, and all their plans against me,
62
the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63
You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64
You will pay them back, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65
You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
66
You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.

Fußnoten

(a)3:41 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
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