I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, {Or, without light}and not in light.
Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.
My flesh and my skin hath he {Or, worn out}made old; he hath broken my bones.
He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.
He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.
He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
He hath caused the {Hebrew: sons.}shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.
I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast {Or, cast off}removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.
And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.
Remember mine affliction and my {Or, wandering}misery, the wormwood and the gall.
My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.
It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
{Or, he sitteth &c. (so through verse 28-30)}Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be filled full with reproach.
For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
For he doth not afflict {Hebrew: from his heart.}willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord {Hebrew: seeth not.}approveth not.
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good?
Wherefore doth a living man complain, {Or, a man that is in his sins}a man for the punishment of his sins?
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned.
Thou hast {Or, covered thyself}covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
Thou hast made us an offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
Fear and the pit are come upon us, {Or, tumult}devastation and destruction.
Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.
Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause.
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me.
Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.
I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon.
Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.
O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.
Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.
Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me,
The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.
Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands.
Thou wilt give them {Or, blindness Hebrew: covering.}hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.
Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.
Querverweise zu Klagelieder 3,11 Klgl 3,11
I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:He hath also set me up for his mark.
From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them;He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back:He hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
His {Or, arrows Or, mighty ones}archers compass me round about;He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
But now he hath made me weary:Thou hast made desolate all my company.
Now consider this, ye that forget God,Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be {Or, emptied}desolate and sit upon the ground.
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the {Or, deserts}evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.
Thou art my {Or, maul}battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passeth through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush.
And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with {Or, earthenware}miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly {Or, brittle}broken.
And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with {Or, earthenware}miry clay, they shall mingle themselves {Or, by}with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay.
And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall {Or, thresh it}tread it down, and break it in pieces.
And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Behold, your house is left unto you {Some ancient authorities omit desolate.}desolate.
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.