Part 356

3:52. Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.

3:53. Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.

3:54. Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.

3:55. Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.

3:56. Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.

3:57. Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.

3:58. Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.

3:59. Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.

3:60. Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.

3:61. Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.

3:62. Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.

3:63. Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.

3:64. Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.

3:65. Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.

3:66. Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.

Lamentations Chapter 4

4:1. Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?

4:2. Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the potter's hands?

4:3. Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert.

4:4. Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them.

4:5. He. They that were fed delicately have died in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung.

4:6. Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took nothing in her.

4:7. Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.

4:8. Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood.

4:9. Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the earth.

4:10. Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

4:11. Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

4:12. Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.