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