Lamentations 3:34-66

To crush underfoot all the earth’s prisoners, to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High, to defraud a person in a lawsuit – the Lord does not approve of such things! מ (Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes – both calamity and blessing? Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? נ (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: “We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven.” ס (Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy. You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations. פ (Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us; Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. ע (Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened. What my eyes see grieves me – all the suffering of the daughters in my city. צ (Tsade) For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird. They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me. The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die. ק (Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” You came near on the day I called to you; you said, “Do not fear!” ר (Resh) O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life. You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf! You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. ש (Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me. My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long. Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs. ת (Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done. Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them! Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the Lord’s heaven.