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 3,42 Klgl 3,42
Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment:Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow:My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Jehovah would not pardon.
The crown is fallen from our head:Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
How can I pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had {Or, according to another reading, made them swear}fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses;
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and slew thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto thee, and they wrought great provocations.
they were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor's wife.
He {Or, looketh upon men}singeth before men, and saith,I have sinned, and perverted that which was right,And {Or, it was nor requited unto me Or, it was not meet for me}it profited me not:
{Or, For thy filthy lewdness}In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed thee and thou wast not cleansed, thou shalt not be cleansed from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my wrath toward thee to rest.
He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit,And my life shall behold the light.
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
Only {Or, know}acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah.
we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances;
neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; {Or, though}for we have rebelled against him;
neither have we obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they should not obey thy voice: therefore hath the curse been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against him.
And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet have we not entreated the favor of Jehovah our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and {Or, deal wisely}have discernment in thy truth.
Therefore hath Jehovah watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth, and we have not obeyed his voice.
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight:
I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.