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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.