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          DASV: Lamentations 3 [Alphabetic Acrostic]

1 א I am one who has seen affliction
     by the rod of his wrath.
2 א He has driven me away
     and caused me to walk in darkness
           and not in light.
3 א Surely he has turned his hand against me
     again and again, all day long.
4 ב He has worn out my flesh and skin;
     he has broken my bones.
5 ב He has besieged me,
     and surrounded me with poverty and hardship.
6 ב He has made me to dwell in darkness,
     like those who have been long dead.
7 ג He has walled me in
     so that I cannot get out.
           He has made my chains heavy.
8 ג Though I cry out and call for help,
     he shuts out my prayer.
9 ג He has blocked up my ways with cut stone;
     he has made my paths crooked.
10 ד He is like a bear lying in wait for me,
     like a lion in an ambush.
11 ד He has pulled me off my paths,
     and tore me in pieces.
           He has left me ravaged.
12 ד He has bent his bow,
     and set me as a target for the arrow.
13 ה He has caused the shafts of his quiver
     to enter into my heart.
14 ה I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
     and their mocking song all day long.
15 ה He has filled me with bitterness;
     he has made me drunk with bitter wormwood.
16 ו He has ground my teeth with gravel;
     he has covered me with ashes.
17 ו You have removed peace from my soul;
     I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 ו I said, "My strength is gone,
     including what I hoped for from the LORD."
19 ז Remember my poverty and homelessness,
     the bitter wormwood and the poison gall.
20 ז My soul continually remembers it,
     and is depressed within me.
21 ז But this is what I call to mind
     and therefore have I hope:
22 ח The loyal love of the LORD never fails,
     because his compassions never end.
23 ח They are fresh every morning;
     great is your faithfulness.
24 ח "The LORD is my portion," I tell myself;
     "therefore I will hope in him."
25 ט The LORD is good to those who expectantly wait for him,
     to the soul that seeks him.
26 ט It is good that a person should hope
     and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 ט It is good for a person
     to bear the yoke in his youth.
28 י Let a person sit alone in silence,
     because the LORD has laid it on him.
29 י Let him put his mouth in the dust,
     for then there may be hope.
30 י Let him offer his cheek to the one slapping him;
     let him be filled full of insults.
31 כ For the Lord will not cast us away forever.
32 כ For though he causes grief,
     yet he will have compassion
           according to the abundance of his loyal love.
33 כ For he does not willingly afflict people
     or grieve anyone.
34 ל To crush underfoot
     all the prisoners of the earth,
35 ל to deprive a person of justice
     in the presence of the Most High,
36 ל to defraud a person in his lawsuit--
     does the Lord not see it?
37 מ Who can speak and have it come to pass
     when the Lord has not ordained it?
38 מ From the mouth of the Most High
     does not come both good and bad?
39 מ Why should anyone living complain
     over the punishment for sins?
40 נ Let us inspect and test our ways,
     and return to the LORD.
41 נ Let us lift up our heart
     along with our hands to God in heaven.
42 נ We have sinned and rebelled,
     yet you have not forgiven.
43 ס You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us;
     you have killed without pity.
44 ס You have wrapped yourself with a cloud,
     so that no prayer can get through.
45 ס You have made us scum and rubbish
     among the peoples.
46 פ All our enemies have opened their mouths wide
     against us.
47 פ Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
     devastation and destruction.
48 פ My eyes flow with streams of water,
     for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 ע My eyes flow without ceasing,
     without stopping,
50 ע until the LORD looks down,
     and sees from heaven.
51 ע My eyes bring me grief,
     because of all the daughters of my city.
52 צ They have hunted me like a bird,
     those who were my enemies without cause.
53 צ They sought to put an end of me in the pit,
     and threw stones at me.
54 צ Waters flowed over my head;
     I thought, "I'm done for."
55 ק I called upon your name, O LORD,
     from the depths of the pit.
56 ק You heard my voice:
     "Do not close your ears to my cry for help."
57 ק You came near on the day I called on you;
     you said, "Do not be afraid."
58 ר O Lord, you have pleaded my case;
     you have redeemed my life.
59 ר O LORD, you have seen the wrong I have suffered;
     judge my case.
60 ר You have seen all their vindictiveness,
     all their plots against me.
61 ש You have heard their insults, O LORD,
     all their plots against me,
62 ש the lips of my assailants whisper and murmur against me
     all day long.
63 ש Whether they are sitting or standing, see;
     I am the object of their ridiculing songs.
64 ת Pay them back, O LORD,
     according to the work of their hands.
65 ת Give them an insolent hard heart,
     let your curse come on them.
66 ת Pursue them in anger,
     and destroy them from under the LORD's heaven.
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