Lamentations

The Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 3, Vulgate and King James Version

This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.

Chapter 3 Vulgate

   1 ALEPH. Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis eius.
   2 ALEPH. Me minavit et adduxit in tenebras et non in lucem.
   3 ALEPH. Tantum in me vertit et convertit manum suam tota die.
   4 BETH. Consumpsit pellem meam et carnem meam, contrivit ossa mea.
   5 BETH. Aedificavit in gyro meo et circumdedit me felle et labore.
   6 BETH. In tenebrosis collocavit me quasi mortuos sempiternos.
   7 GHIMEL. Circumaedificavit adversum me, ut non egrediar, aggravavit compedem meum.
   8 GHIMEL. Sed et cum clamavero et rogavero, exclusit orationem meam.
   9 GHIMEL. Conclusit vias meas lapidibus quadris, semitas meas subvertit.
   10 DALETH. Ursus insidians factus est mihi, leo in absconditis.
   11 DALETH. Semitas meas subvertit et confregit me, posuit me desolatam.
   12 DALETH. Tetendit arcum suum et posuit me quasi signum ad sagittam.
   13 HE. Misit in renibus meis filias pharetrae suae.
   14 HE. Factus sum in derisum omni populo meo, canticum eorum tota die.
   15 HE. Replevit me amaritudinibus, inebriavit me absinthio.
   16 VAU. Et fregit in glarea dentes meos, depressit me cinere.
   17 VAU. Et repulsa est a pace anima mea, oblitus sum bonorum.
   18 VAU. Et dixi: "Periit splendor meus et spes mea a Domino".
   19 ZAIN. Recordare paupertatis et peregrinationis meae, absinthii et fellis.
   20 ZAIN. Memoria memor est et tabescit in me anima mea.
   21 ZAIN. Haec recolam in corde meo, ideo sperabo.
   22 HETH. Misericordiae Domini, quia non sumus consumpti, quia non defecerunt miserationes eius.
   23 HETH. Novae sunt omni mane, magna est fides tua.
   24 HETH. "Pars mea Dominus, dixit anima mea; propterea exspectabo eum".
   25 TETH. Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum, animae quaerenti illum.
   26 TETH. Bonum est praestolari cum silentio salutare Domini.
   27 TETH. Bonum est viro, cum portaverit iugum ab adulescentia sua.
   28 IOD. Sedebit solitarius et tacebit, cum istud imponitur ei.
   29 IOD. Ponet in pulvere os suum, si forte sit spes.
   30 IOD. Dabit percutienti se maxillam, saturabitur opprobriis.
   31 CAPH. Quia non repellet in sempiternum Dominus.
   32 CAPH. Quia si afflixit, et miserebitur secundum multitudinem misericordiarum suarum.
   33 CAPH. Non enim humiliat ex corde suo et affligit filios hominum.
   34 LAMED. Conterere sub pedibus suis omnes vinctos terrae.
   35 LAMED. Declinare iudicium viri in conspectu vultus Altissimi.
   36 LAMED. Pervertere hominem in iudicio suo, num Dominus haec ignorat?
   37 MEM. Quis est iste, qui dixit, et factum est? Dominus non iussit?
   38 MEM. Ex ore Altissimi nonne egrediuntur et mala et bona?
   39 MEM. Quid murmurabit homo vivens, vir pro peccatis suis?
   40 NUN. "Scrutemur vias nostras et quaeramus et revertamur ad Dominum.
   41 NUN. Levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in caelos.
   42 NUN. Nos inique egimus et rebelles fuimus; idcirco tu inexorabilis fuisti.
   43 SAMECH. Operuisti in furore et percussisti nos; occidisti nec pepercisti.
   44 SAMECH. Opposuisti nubem tibi, ne transeat oratio.
   45 SAMECH. In eradicationem et abiectionem posuisti nos in medio populorum.
   46 PHE. Aperuerunt super nos os suum omnes inimici nostri.
   47 PHE. Formido et fovea facta est nobis, vastatio et contritio".
   48 PHE. Rivos aquarum deducit oculus meus in contritione filiae populi mei.
   49 AIN. Oculus meus lacrimas effundit nec tacet, eo quod non sit requies.
   50 AIN. Donec respiciat et videat Dominus de caelis.
   51 AIN. Oculus meus affligit animam meam prae cunctis filiabus urbis meae.
   52 SADE. Venatione venati sunt me quasi avem inimici mei gratis.
   53 SADE. Perdiderunt in lacu vitam meam et iecerunt lapides super me.
   54 SADE. Inundaverunt aquae super caput meum, dixi: "Perii".
   55 COPH. Invocavi nomen tuum, Domine, de profunditate lacus.
   56 COPH. Vocem meam audisti: "Ne avertas aurem tuam a singultu meo et clamoribus".
   57 COPH. Appropinquasti in die, quando invocavi te, dixisti: "Ne timeas".
   58 RES. Iudicasti, Domine, causam animae meae, redemisti vitam meam.
   59 RES. Vidisti, Domine, afflictionem meam; iudica iudicium meum.
   60 RES. Vidisti omnem furorem eorum, universas cogitationes eorum adversum me.
   61 SIN. Audisti opprobrium eorum, Domine, omnes cogitationes eorum adversum me.
   62 SIN. Labia insurgentium mihi et meditationes eorum adversum me tota die.
   63 SIN. Sessionem eorum et resurrectionem eorum vide; ego sum eorum.
   64 THAU. Reddes eis vicem, Domine, iuxta opera manuum suarum.
   65 THAU. Dabis eis duritiam cordis, exsecrationem tuam.
   66 THAU. Persequeris in furore et conteres eos sub caelis tuis, Domine.

King James Version

   1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
   2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
   3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
   4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
   5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
   6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
   7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
   8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
   9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
   10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
   11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
   12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
   13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
   14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
   15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
   16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
   17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
   18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
   19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
   20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
   21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
   22 ¶ It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
   23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
   24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
   25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
   26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
   27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
   28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
   29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
   30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
   31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
   32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
   33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
   34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
   35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
   36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
   37 ¶ Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
   38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
   39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
   40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
   41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
   42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
   43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
   44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
   45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
   46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
   47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
   48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
   49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
   50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
   51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
   52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
   53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
   54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
   55 ¶ I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
   56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
   57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
   58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
   59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
   60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
   61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
   62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
   63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
   64 ¶ Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
   65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
   66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.