א (Alef) 1
3:1 I am the man 2 who has experienced 3 affliction
from the rod 4 of his wrath.
3:2 He drove me into captivity 5 and made me walk 6
in darkness and not light.
3:3 He repeatedly 7 attacks me,
he turns his hand 8 against me all day long. 9
ב (Bet)
3:4 He has made my mortal skin 10 waste away;
he has broken my bones.
3:5 He has besieged 11 and surrounded 12 me
with bitter hardship. 13
3:6 He has made me reside in deepest darkness 14
like those who died long ago.
ג (Gimel)
3:7 He has walled me in 15 so that I cannot get out;
he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains. 16
3:8 Also, when I cry out desperately 17 for help, 18
he has shut out my prayer. 19
3:9 He has blocked 20 every road I take 21 with a wall of hewn stones;
he has made every path impassable. 22
ד (Dalet)
3:10 To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, 23
like a hidden lion 24 stalking its prey. 25
3:11 He has obstructed my paths 26 and torn me to pieces; 27
he has made me desolate.
3:12 He drew 28 his bow and made me 29
the target for his arrow.
ה (He)
3:13 He shot 30 his arrows 31
into my heart. 32
3:14 I have become the laughingstock of all people, 33
their mocking song 34 all day long. 35
3:15 He has given me my fill of bitter herbs
and made me drunk with bitterness. 36
ו (Vav)
3:16 He ground 37 my teeth in gravel;
he trampled 38 me in the dust.
3:17 I 39 am deprived 40 of peace; 41
I have forgotten what happiness 42 is.
3:18 So I said, “My endurance has expired;
I have lost all hope of deliverance 43 from the Lord.”
ז (Zayin)
3:19 Remember 44 my impoverished and homeless condition, 45
which is a bitter poison. 46
3:20 I 47 continually think about 48 this,
and I 49 am depressed. 50
3:21 But this I call 51 to mind; 52
therefore I have hope:
ח (Khet)
3:22 The Lord’s loyal kindness 53 never ceases; 54
his compassions 55 never end.
3:23 They are fresh 56 every morning;
your faithfulness is abundant! 57
3:24 “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, 58
so I will put my hope in him.
ט (Tet)
3:25 The Lord is good to those who trust 59 in him,
to the one 60 who seeks him.
3:26 It is good to wait patiently 61
for deliverance from the Lord. 62
3:27 It is good for a man 63
to bear 64 the yoke 65 while he is young. 66
י (Yod)
3:28 Let a person 67 sit alone in silence,
when the Lord 68 is disciplining him. 69
3:29 Let him bury his face in the dust; 70
perhaps there is hope.
3:30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; 71
let him have his fill of insults.
כ (Kaf)
3:31 For the Lord 72 will not
reject us forever. 73
3:32 Though he causes us 74 grief, he then has compassion on us 75
according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. 76
3:33 For he is not predisposed to afflict 77
or to grieve people. 78
ל (Lamed)
3:34 To crush underfoot
all the earth’s prisoners, 79
3:35 to deprive a person 80 of his rights 81
in the presence of the Most High,
3:36 to defraud a person in a lawsuit –
the Lord 82 does not approve 83 of such things!
מ (Mem)
3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled 84
unless the Lord 85 decreed it?
3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes –
both calamity and blessing? 86
3:39 Why should any living person 87 complain
when punished for his sins? 88
נ (Nun)
3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, 89
and let us return to the Lord.
3:41 Let us lift up our hearts 90 and our hands
to God in heaven:
3:42 “We 91 have blatantly rebelled; 92
you 93 have not forgiven.”
ס (Samek)
3:43 You shrouded yourself 94 with anger and then pursued us;
you killed without mercy.
3:44 You shrouded yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
3:45 You make us like filthy scum 95
in the estimation 96 of the nations.
פ (Pe)
3:46 All our enemies have gloated over us; 97
3:47 Panic and pitfall 98 have come upon us,
devastation and destruction. 99
3:48 Streams 100 of tears flow from my eyes 101
because my people 102 are destroyed. 103
ע (Ayin)
3:49 Tears flow from my eyes 104 and will not stop;
there will be no break 105
3:50 until the Lord looks down from heaven
and sees what has happened. 106
3:51 What my eyes see 107 grieves me 108 –
all the suffering of the daughters in my city. 109
צ (Tsade)
3:52 For no good reason 110 my enemies
hunted me down 111 like a bird.
3:53 They shut me 112 up in a pit
and threw stones at me.
3:54 The waters closed over my head;
I thought 113 I was about to die. 114
ק (Qof)
3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit. 115
3:56 You heard 116 my plea: 117
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” 118
3:57 You came near 119 on the day I called to you;
you said, 120 “Do not fear!”
ר (Resh)
3:58 O Lord, 121 you championed 122 my cause, 123
you redeemed my life.
3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
pronounce judgment on my behalf! 124
3:60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me. 125
ש (Sin/Shin)
3:61 You have heard 126 their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
3:62 My assailants revile and conspire 127
against me all day long.
3:63 Watch them from morning to evening; 128
I am the object of their mocking songs.
ת (Tav)
3:64 Pay them back 129 what they deserve, 130 O Lord,
according to what they 131 have done. 132
3:65 Give them a distraught heart; 133
may your curse be on them!
3:66 Pursue them 134 in anger and eradicate them
from under the Lord’s heaven.