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