Chapter 3

  Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.  

-

  Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.  

-

  Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.  

-

  Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.  

-

  Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.  

-

  Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.  

-

  Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.  

-

  Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.  

-

  Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.  

-

  Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.  

-

  Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.  

-

  Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.  

-

  He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.  

-

  He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.  

-

  He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.  

-

  Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.  

-

  Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.  

-

  Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.  

-

  Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall.  

-

  Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.  

-

  Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.  

-

  Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.  

-

  Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.  

-

  Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.  

-

  Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.  

-

  Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.  

-

  Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.  

-

  Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.  

-

  Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.  

-

  Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.  

-

  Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.  

-

  Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.  

-

  Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.  

-

  Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,  

-

  Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,  

-

  Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.  

-

  Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?  

-

  Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?  

-

  Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?  

-

  Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.  

-

  Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.  

-

  Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.  

-

  Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.  

-

  Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.  

-

  Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.  

-

  Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.  

-

  Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.  

-

  Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.  

-

  Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:  

-

  Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.  

-

  Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.  

-

  Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.  

-

  Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.  

-

  Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.  

-

  Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.  

-

  Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.  

-

  Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.  

-

  Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.  

-

  Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.  

-

  Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.  

-

  Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.  

-

  Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.  

-

  Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.  

-

  Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.  

-

  Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.  

-

  Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.  

-