Lamentations 3

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 I am the man familiar with misery under the rod of his fury.	1 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 He has led and guided me into darkness, not light.	2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Against none but me does he turn his hand, again and again, al day.	3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 He has wasted my flesh and skin away, has broken my bones.	4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and made hardship a circlet round my head.	5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.
6 He has forced me to dwel where al is dark, like those long-dead in their everlasting home.	6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains;	7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 even when I shout for help, he shuts out my prayer.	8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 He has closed my way with blocks of stone, he has obstructed my paths.	9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.
10 For me he is a lurking bear, a lion in hiding.	10 Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.
11 Heading me off, he has torn me apart, leaving me shattered.	11 Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
12 He has bent his bow and used me as a target for his arrows.	12 Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.
13 He has shot deep into me with shafts from his quiver.	13 He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
14 I have become a joke to al my own people, their refrain all day long.	14 He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.
15 He has given me my fil of bitterness, he has made me drunk with wormwood.	15 He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel, he has fed me on ashes.	16 Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.
17 I have been deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is	17 Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
18 and thought, 'My lasting hope in Yahweh is lost.'	18 Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
19 Bring to mind my misery and anguish; it is wormwood and gall!	19 Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall.
20 My heart dwel s on this continual y and sinks within me.	20 Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.
21 This is what I shal keep in mind and so regain some hope:	21 Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.
22 Surely Yahweh's mercies are not over, his deeds of faithful love not exhausted;	22 Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.
23 every morning they are renewed; great is his faithfulness!	23 Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
24 'Yahweh is al I have,' I say to myself, 'and so I shal put my hope in him.'	24 Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.
25 Yahweh is good to those who trust him, to al who search for him.	25 Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good to wait in silence for Yahweh to save.	26 Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
27 It is good for someone to bear the yoke from a young age,	27 Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.
28 to sit in solitude and silence when it weighs heavy,	28 Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
29 to lay one's head in the dust -- maybe there is hope-	29 Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
30 to offer one's cheek to the striker, to have one's fil of disgrace!	30 Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.
31 For the Lord will not reject anyone for ever.	31 Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32 If he brings grief, he wil have pity out of the ful ness of his faithful love,	32 Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 for it is not for his own pleasure that he torments and grieves the human race.	33 Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.
34 When al the prisoners in a country are crushed underfoot,	34 Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
35 when human rights are overridden in defiance of the Most High,	35 Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,
36 when someone is cheated of justice, does not the Lord see it?	36 Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.
37 Who has only to speak and it is so done? Who commands, if not the Lord?	37 Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 From where, if not from the mouth of the Most High, do evil and good come?	38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?
39 Why then should anyone complain? Better to be bold against one's sins.	39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
40 Let us examine our path, let us ponder it and return to Yahweh.	40 Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
41 Let us raise our hearts and hands to God in heaven.	41 Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.
42 We are the ones who have sinned, who have rebel ed, and you have not forgiven.	42 Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.
43 You have enveloped us in anger, pursuing us, slaughtering without pity.	43 Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
44 You have wrapped yourself in a cloud too thick for prayer to pierce.	44 Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.
45 You have reduced us to rubbish and refuse among the nations.	45 Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 Our enemies open their mouths in chorus against us.	46 Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Terror and pitfal have been our lot, ravage and ruin.	47 Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
48 My eyes dissolve in torrents of tears at the ruin of my beloved people.	48 Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes wil weep ceaselessly, without relief,	49 Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:
50 until Yahweh looks down and sees from heaven.	50 Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
51 My eyes have grown sore over al the daughters of my city.	51 Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Unprovoked, my enemies hunted me down like a bird.	52 Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.
53 They shut me final y in a pit, they closed me in with a stone.	53 Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.
54 The waters rose over my head; I thought, 'I am lost!'	54 Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.
55 Yahweh, I called on your name from the deep pit.	55 Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
56 You heard my voice, do not close your ear to my prayer, to my cry.	56 Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
57 You are near when I cal to you. You said, 'Do not be afraid!'	57 Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
58 Lord, you defended my cause, you have redeemed my life.	58 Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.
59 Yahweh, you have seen the wrong done to me, grant me redress.	59 Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.
60 You have seen their vindictiveness, al their plots against me.	60 Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.
61 You have heard their insults, Yahweh, al their plots against me,	61 Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.
62 the whispering and murmuring of my enemies against me all day long.	62 Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.
63 Look, whether they sit or stand, I am their refrain.	63 Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.
64 Yahweh, repay them as their deeds deserve.	64 Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
65 Lay hardness of heart as your curse on them.	65 Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
66 Angrily pursue them, root them out from under your heavens!	66 Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.