1 Jeremiah’s Heavy Chain Aleph I am the man who has seen afflictionBecause of the rod of His wrath.2 He has driven me and made me walkIn darkness and not in light.3 Surely against me He has turned His handRepeatedly all the day.Beth 4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away;He has broken my bones.5 He has besieged and encompassed me with gall and hardship.6 Dark places He has made me inhabit,Like those who have long been dead.Gimel 7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;He has made my 3:7Lit bronze piece chain heavy.8 Even when I cry out and call for help,He shuts out my prayer.9 He has blocked my ways with cut stone;He has made my paths crooked.Daleth 10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,Likea lion in secret places.11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;He has made me desolate.12 He bent His bowAnd set me as a target for the arrow.He 13 He made the 3:13 Lit sons arrows of His quiverTo enter into my 3:13 Lit kidneys inward parts.14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people,Their music ofmockeryall the day.15 He has saturated me with bitterness;He has sated me with wormwood.Vav 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;He has made me cower in the dust.17 My soul has been rejected from peace;I have forgotten goodness.18 So I say, “My strength has perished,As well as my hopeful waitingwhich comesfrom Yahweh.”The Lord Will Not Reject Forever Zayin 19 ¶Remember my affliction and my 3:19 Or bitterness homelessness, the wormwood and gall.20 Surely my soul remembersAnd is bowed down within me.21 This I will return to my heart;Therefore I will wait in hope.Heth 22 The lovingkindnesses of Yahweh 3:22Or that we are not consumed indeed never cease,For His compassions never fail.23 Theyare new every morning;Great is Your faithfulness.24 “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul,“Therefore I wait for Him.”Teth 25 Yahweh is good to those who hope in Him,To the soul who seeks Him.26 It isgood that he waits silentlyFor the salvation of Yahweh.27 It isgood for a man that he should bearThe yoke in his youth.Yodh 28 Let him sit alone and be silentSince He has laiditon him.29 Let him 3:29Lit give put his mouth in the dust;Perhaps there is hope.30 Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him;Let him be saturated with reproach.Kaph 31 For the Lord will not reject forever,32 For if He causes grief,Then He will have compassionAccording to His abundant lovingkindness.33 For He does not afflict from His heartOr grieve the sons of men.Lamedh 34 To crush under His feetAll the prisoners of the 3:34 Or earth land,35 To 3:35 Or turn aside a man’s case deprive a man of justiceIn the presence of the Most High,36 To 3:36Lit make crooked defraud a man in hislegalcase—These things the Lord does not seewith approval.Mem 37 Who is 3:37Lit this there who speaks and it happens,Unless the Lord has commandedit?38 Is itnot from the mouth of the Most HighThat both calamities and 3:38Lit the good good go forth?39 Why shouldanyliving 3:39Or human being person oranymanComplain because of his sins?Nun 40 ¶Let us search out and examine our ways,And let us return to Yahweh.41 We lift up our heart toourhandsToward God in heaven;42 We have transgressed and rebelled;You have not pardoned.Samekh 43 You have coveredYourselfwith angerAnd pursued us;You have killedandhave not spared.44 You have covered Yourself with a cloudSo that no prayer can pass through.45 You have made us merescum and refuseIn the midst of the peoples.Pe 46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.47 Panic and pitfall have befallen us,Devastation and destruction;48 My 3:48Lit eye brings eyes run down with streams of waterBecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people.Ayin 49 My eyes pour down unceasingly,Without stopping,50 Until Yahweh looks downAnd sees from heaven.51 My eyes deal severely with my soulBecause of all the daughters of my city.Tsadhe 52 My enemies without causeHunted me down like a bird;53 They have silenced my life in the pitAnd have 3:53Or cast stones placed a stone on me.54 Waters flowed over my head;I said, “I am cut off!”Qoph 55 I called on Your name, O Yahweh,Out of the lowest pit.56 You have heard my voice,“Do not hide Your ear from myprayer forrelief,From my cry for help.”57 You drew near when I called on You;You said, “Do not fear!”Resh 58 O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause;You have redeemed my life.59 O Yahweh, You have seen my oppression;Judge my case.60 You have seen all their vengeance,All their purposes against me.Sin / Shin 61 You have heard their reproach, O Yahweh,All their purposes against me.62 The lips of those who rise against me and their whisperingAreagainst me all day long.63 Look on their sitting and their rising;I am their mocking song.Tav 64 You will recompense them, O Yahweh,According to the work of their hands.65 You will give them 3:65Or insolence dullness of heart;Your curse will be on them.66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy themFrom under the heavens of Yahweh!