Chapter 3

¹Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation. ²Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light. ³Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day. ⁴Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones. ⁵Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour. ⁶Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever. ⁷Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy. ⁸Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer. ⁹Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down. ¹⁰Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places. ¹¹Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate. ¹²Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows. ¹³He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver. ¹⁴He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long. ¹⁵He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood. ¹⁶Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes. ¹⁷Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things. ¹⁸Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord. ¹⁹Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall. ²⁰Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me. ²¹Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope. ²²Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed. ²³Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. ²⁴Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him. ²⁵Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him. ²⁶Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God. ²⁷Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth. ²⁸Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself. ²⁹Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. ³⁰Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches. ³¹Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever. ³²Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies. ³³Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men. ³⁴Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land, ³⁵Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High, ³⁶Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved. ³⁷Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? ³⁸Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? ³⁹Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins? ⁴⁰Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. ⁴¹Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. ⁴²Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable. ⁴³Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared. ⁴⁴Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through. ⁴⁵Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people. ⁴⁶Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. ⁴⁷Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction. ⁴⁸Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest: ⁵⁰Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens. ⁵¹Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city. ⁵²Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause. ⁵³Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me. ⁵⁴Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off. ⁵⁵Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. ⁵⁶Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries. ⁵⁷Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not. ⁵⁸Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life. ⁵⁹Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment. ⁶⁰Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me. ⁶¹Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me. ⁶²Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day. ⁶³Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song. ⁶⁴Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands. ⁶⁵Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour. ⁶⁶Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.