Lamentations 3
I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of His wrath.
He has led me and made me walk
in darkness and not light.
Indeed, He has turned back,
He has turned His hand against me all the day.
He has worn out my flesh and my skin,
He has broken my bones.
He has piled up against me,
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has made me dwell in dark places
like the dead of old.
He has hedged me in and I do not go out,
He has made my chain heavy.
Also, when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
He has blocked my ways with hewn stone,
He has made my paths crooked.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
A lion in hiding.
He has turned aside my ways
and torn me in pieces,
He has laid me waste.
He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
He made the arrows of His quiver pierce my kidneys.
I have been a mockery to all my people,
their song of mockery all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness,
He drenched me with wormwood.
And He has broken my teeth with gravel,
He has covered me with ashes.
And You have removed my being far from peace,
I have forgotten goodness.
I said, "My strength and my expectancy
have perished from Yahowah."
Remember my affliction and my anguish,
the wormwood and the gall.
Your soul indeed remembers
and bows down upon me.
This I recall to my mind,
therefore I wait:
It is because of Yahowah's loving kindnesses
that we are not consumed,
because His compassion does not fail:
His compassions have not ended.
They are new every morning,
Great is Your trustworthiness.
"Yahowah is my Portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I wait for Him!"
Yahowah is good to those waiting for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.
It is good both to wait and to quietly hope
for the deliverance of Yahowah.
It is good for a man to bear a yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone and be silent,
because He has laid it on him.
Let him bury his face in the dust;
perhaps there is hope.
Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him;
let him have his fill of insults.
For Yahowah will not reject us forever.
Though he causes us grief,
He then has compassion on us
according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.
For he is not predisposed to afflict
or to grieve people.
To crush underfoot all the earth's prisoners,
to deprive a person of justice
in the presence of the Most High,
to defraud a person in a lawsuit—
Yahowah does not approve of such things!
Whose command was ever fulfilled
unless Yahowah decreed it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that everything comes
—both calamity and blessing?
Why should any living person complain
when punished for his sins?
Let us carefully examine our ways,
and let us return to Yahowah.
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven:
"We have blatantly rebelled;
You have not forgiven."
You shrouded Yourself with anger
and then pursued us;
You killed without mercy.
You shrouded yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
You make us like filthy scum
in the estimation of the nations.
All our enemies have gloated over us;
panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
Tears flow from my eyes
and will not stop;
there will be no break
until Yahowah looks down from heaven
and sees what has happened.
What my eyes see grieves me—
all the suffering of the daughters in my city.
For no good reason my enemies
hunted me down like a bird.
They shut me up in a pit
and threw stones at me.
The waters closed over my head;
I thought I was about to die.
I have called on Your Name, O Yahowah,
from the deepest pit.
You heard my plea:
"Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!"
You came near on the day
I called to You;
You said, "Do not fear!"
O Yahowah, You championed my cause,
You redeemed my life.
You have seen the wrong done to me, O Yahowah;
pronounce judgment on my behalf!
You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
You have heard their taunts, O Yahowah,
all their plots against me.
My assailants revile and conspire
against me all day long.
Watch them from morning to evening;
I am the object of their mocking songs.
Pay them back what they deserve, O Yahowah,
according to what they have done.
Give them a distraught heart;
may Your curse be on them!
Pursue them in anger and eradicate them
from under Yahowah's heaven.
= יהוה = ee-ah-oh-ah = Yahowah /'iɑ∙o∙wɑ /
Song / Mizmor / Psalm 19:7
Yahowah's Towrah is complete and entirely perfect, returning and restoring the soul. Yahowah's testimony is trustworthy and reliable, making understanding and obtaining wisdom simple for the open-minded and receptive.
Yahowah's (
) Towrah (torah – teaching, guidance, direction, and instruction) is complete and entirely perfect (tamym – without defect, lacking nothing, correct, genuine, right, helpful, beneficial, and true), returning and restoring (suwb – transforming) the soul (nepesh – consciousness). Yahowah's testimony ('eduwth – restoring and eternal witness) is trustworthy and reliable ('aman – verifiable, confirming, supportive, and establishing), making understanding and obtaining wisdom (hakam – educating and enlightening oneself to the point of comprehension) simple for the open-minded and receptive (pethy – easy for those who are receptive).