HOPE THROUGH GOD’S MERCY

א Aleph

3 I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of God’s wrath.

2 He has driven me away and forced me to walk

in darkness instead of light.t

3 Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand

against me all day long.

ב Beth

4 He has worn away my flesh and skin;u

he has broken my bones.v

5 He has laid siege against me,w

encircling me with bitterness and hardship.x

6 He has made me dwell in darkness

like those who have been dead for ages.y

ג Gimel

7 He has walled me in so I cannot get out;a

he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I cry out and plead for help,

he blocks out my prayer.b

9 He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone;c

he has made my paths crooked.d

ד Daleth

10 He isA a bear waiting in ambush,

a lion in hiding.e

11 He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;

he left me desolate.

12 He strung his bowf

and set me as the target for his arrow.

ה He

13 He pierced my kidneys

with shafts from his quiver.g

14 I am a laughingstockh to all my people,B

mocked by their songsi all day long.

15 He filled me with bitterness,

satiated me with wormwood.j

ו Waw

16 He ground my teeth with gravelk

and made me cowerC in the dust.

17 I have been deprivedD of peace;l

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18 Then I thought, “My futureE is lost,

as well as my hope from the Lord.”

ז Zayin

19 RememberF my affliction and my homelessness,m

the wormwood and the poison.n

20 I continually remember them

and have become depressed.G,o