Lamentations Chapter 3

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall, and labour.
6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.
10 Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.
11 Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
12 Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.
13 He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
14 He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.
15 He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.
16 Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.
17 Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
18 Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
19 Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
20 Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.
21 Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.
22 Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.
23 Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
24 Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.
25 Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
27 Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.
28 Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
29 Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
30 Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.
31 Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32 Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.
34 Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
35 Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,
36 Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.
37 Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?
39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
40 Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
41 Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.
42 Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.
43 Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
44 Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.
45 Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
48 Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:
50 Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
51 Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.
53 Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.
54 Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.
55 Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
56 Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
57 Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
58 Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.
59 Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.
60 Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.
61 Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.
62 Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.
63 Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.
64 Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
65 Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
66 Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Aleph. Ego vir videns paupertatem meam
in virga indignationis ejus.
2 Aleph. Me minavit, et adduxit in tenebras,
et non in lucem.
3 Aleph. Tantum in me vertit et convertit
manum suam tota die.
4 Beth. Vetustam fecit pellem meam et carnem meam;
contrivit ossa mea.
5 Beth. Ædificavit in gyro meo, et circumdedit me
felle et labore.
6 Beth. In tenebrosis collocavit me,
quasi mortuos sempiternos.
7 Ghimel. Circumædificavit adversum me, ut non egrediar;
aggravavit compedem meum.
8 Ghimel. Sed et cum clamavero, et rogavero,
exclusit orationem meam.
9 Ghimel. Conclusit vias meas lapidibus quadris;
semitas meas subvertit.
10 Daleth. Ursus insidians factus est mihi,
leo in absconditis.
11 Daleth. Semitas meas subvertit, et confregit me;
posuit me desolatam.
12 Daleth. Tetendit arcum suum, et posuit me
quasi signum ad sagittam.
13 He. Misit in renibus meis
filias pharetræ suæ.
14 He. Factus sum in derisum omni populo meo,
canticum eorum tota die.
15 He. Replevit me amaritudinibus;
inebriavit me absinthio.
16 Vau. Et fregit ad numerum dentes meos;
cibavit me cinere.
17 Vau. Et repulsa est a pace anima mea;
oblitus sum bonorum.
18 Vau. Et dixi: Periit finis meus,
et spes mea a Domino.
19 Zain. Recordare paupertatis, et transgressionis meæ,
absinthii et fellis.
20 Zain. Memoria memor ero, et tabescet
in me anima mea.
21 Zain. Hæc recolens in corde meo,
ideo sperabo.
22 Heth. Misericordiæ Domini, quia non sumus consumpti;
quia non defecerunt miserationes ejus.
23 Heth. Novi diluculo,
multa est fides tua.
24 Heth. Pars mea Dominus, dixit anima mea;
propterea exspectabo eum.
25 Teth. Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum,
animæ quærenti illum.
26 Teth. Bonum est præstolari cum silentio
salutare Dei.
27 Teth. Bonum est viro cum portaverit jugum
ab adolescentia sua.
28 Jod. Sedebit solitarius, et tacebit,
quia levavit super se.
29 Jod. Ponet in pulvere os suum,
si forte sit spes.
30 Jod. Dabit percutienti se maxillam:
saturabitur opprobriis.
31 Caph. Quia non repellet
in sempiternum Dominus.
32 Caph. Quia si abjecit, et miserebitur,
secundum multitudinem misericordiarum suarum.
33 Caph. Non enim humiliavit ex corde suo
et abjecit filios hominum.
34 Lamed. Ut conteret sub pedibus suis
omnes vinctos terræ.
35 Lamed. Ut declinaret judicium viri
in conspectu vultus Altissimi.
36 Lamed. Ut perverteret hominem in judicio suo;
Dominus ignoravit.
37 Mem. Quis est iste qui dixit ut fieret,
Domino non jubente?
38 Mem. Ex ore Altissimi non egredientur
nec mala nec bona?
39 Mem. Quid murmuravit homo vivens,
vir pro peccatis suis?
40 Nun. Scrutemur vias nostras, et quæramus,
et revertamur ad Dominum.
41 Nun. Levemus corda nostra cum manibus
ad Dominum in cælos.
42 Nun. Nos inique egimus, et ad iracundiam provocavimus;
idcirco tu inexorabilis es.
43 Samech. Operuisti in furore, et percussisti nos;
occidisti, nec pepercisti.
44 Samech. Opposuisti nubem tibi,
ne transeat oratio.
45 Samech. Eradicationem et abjectionem posuisti me
in medio populorum.
46 Phe. Aperuerunt super nos os suum
omnes inimici.
47 Phe. Formido et laqueus facta est nobis
vaticinatio, et contritio.
48 Phe. Divisiones aquarum deduxit oculus meus,
in contritione filiæ populi mei.
49 Ain. Oculus meus afflictus est, nec tacuit,
eo quod non esset requies.
50 Ain. Donec respiceret et videret
Dominus de cælis.
51 Ain. Oculus meus deprædatus est animam meam
in cunctis filiabus urbis meæ.
52 Sade. Venatione ceperunt me quasi avem
inimici mei gratis.
53 Sade. Lapsa est in lacum vita mea,
et posuerunt lapidem super me.
54 Sade. Inundaverunt aquæ super caput meum;
dixi: Perii.
55 Coph. Invocavi nomen tuum, Domine,
de lacu novissimo.
56 Coph. Vocem meam audisti; ne avertas aurem tuam
a singultu meo et clamoribus.
57 Coph. Appropinquasti in die quando invocavi te;
dixisti: Ne timeas.
58 Res. Judicasti, Domine, causam animæ meæ,
redemptor vitæ meæ.
59 Res. Vidisti, Domine, iniquitatem illorum adversum me:
judica judicium meum.
60 Res. Vidisti omnem furorem,
universas cogitationes eorum adversum me.
61 Sin. Audisti opprobrium eorum, Domine,
omnes cogitationes eorum adversum me.
62 Sin. Labia insurgentium mihi, et meditationes eorum
adversum me tota die.
63 Sin. Sessionem eorum et resurrectionem eorum vide;
ego sum psalmus eorum.
64 Thau. Redes eis vicem, Domine,
juxta opera manuum suarum.
65 Thau. Dabis eis scutum cordis,
laborem tuum.
66 Thau. Persequeris in furore, et conteres eos
sub cælis, Domine.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition

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