The Prophet’s Afflictions 1 DRA Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation. BSB BSB: I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 DRA Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light. BSB BSB: He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
3 DRA Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day. BSB BSB: Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.
4 DRA Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones. BSB BSB: He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
5 DRA Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour. BSB BSB: He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 DRA Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever. BSB BSB: He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
7 DRA Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy. BSB BSB: He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
8 DRA Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer. BSB BSB: Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9 DRA Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down. BSB BSB: He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
10 DRA Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places. BSB BSB: He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
11 DRA Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate. BSB BSB: He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
12 DRA Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows. BSB BSB: He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
13 DRA He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver. BSB BSB: He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
14 DRA He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long. BSB BSB: I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15 DRA He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood. BSB BSB: He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
16 DRA Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes. BSB BSB: He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
17 DRA Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things. BSB BSB: My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 DRA Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord. BSB BSB: So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
The Prophet’s Hope 19 DRA Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall. BSB BSB: Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
20 DRA Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me. BSB BSB: Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
21 DRA Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope. BSB BSB: Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
23 DRA Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. BSB BSB: They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24 DRA Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him. BSB BSB: “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 DRA Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him. BSB BSB: The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26 DRA Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God. BSB BSB: It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 DRA Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth. BSB BSB: It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28 DRA Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself. BSB BSB: Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.
29 DRA Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. BSB BSB: Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope.
30 DRA Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches. BSB BSB: Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
31 DRA Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever. BSB BSB: For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
32 DRA Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies. BSB BSB: Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
33 DRA Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men. BSB BSB: For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
34 DRA Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land, BSB BSB: To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35 DRA Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High, BSB BSB: to deny a man justice before the Most High,
36 DRA Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved. BSB BSB: to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.
God’s Justice 37 DRA Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? BSB BSB: Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38 DRA Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? BSB BSB: Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 DRA Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins? BSB BSB: Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
40 DRA Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. BSB BSB: Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
41 DRA Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. BSB BSB: Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 DRA Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable. BSB BSB: “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43 DRA Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared. BSB BSB: You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
44 DRA Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through. BSB BSB: You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
45 DRA Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people. BSB BSB: You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46 DRA Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. BSB BSB: All our enemies open their mouths against us.
47 DRA Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction. BSB BSB: Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.
48 DRA Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. BSB BSB: Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 DRA Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest: BSB BSB: My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
50 DRA Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens. BSB BSB: until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51 DRA Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city. BSB BSB: My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 DRA Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause. BSB BSB: Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 DRA Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me. BSB BSB: They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
54 DRA Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off. BSB BSB: The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
55 DRA Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. BSB BSB: I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
56 DRA Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries. BSB BSB: You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
57 DRA Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not. BSB BSB: You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 DRA Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life. BSB BSB: You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
59 DRA Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment. BSB BSB: You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60 DRA Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me. BSB BSB: You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61 DRA Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me. BSB BSB: O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62 DRA Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day. BSB BSB: the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
63 DRA Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song. BSB BSB: When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
64 DRA Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands. BSB BSB: You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 DRA Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour. BSB BSB: Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
66 DRA Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord. BSB BSB: You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.