מ (Mem)
3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled 1
unless the Lord 2 decreed it?
3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes –
both calamity and blessing? 3
3:39 Why should any living person 4 complain
when punished for his sins? 5
נ (Nun)
3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, 6
and let us return to the Lord.
3:41 Let us lift up our hearts 7 and our hands
to God in heaven:
3:42 “We 8 have blatantly rebelled; 9
you 10 have not forgiven.”
ס (Samek)
3:43 You shrouded yourself 11 with anger and then pursued us;
you killed without mercy.
3:44 You shrouded yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
3:45 You make us like filthy scum 12
in the estimation 13 of the nations.
פ (Pe)
3:46 All our enemies have gloated over us; 14
3:47 Panic and pitfall 15 have come upon us,
devastation and destruction. 16
3:48 Streams 17 of tears flow from my eyes 18
because my people 19 are destroyed. 20
ע (Ayin)
3:49 Tears flow from my eyes 21 and will not stop;
there will be no break 22
3:50 until the Lord looks down from heaven
and sees what has happened. 23
3:51 What my eyes see 24 grieves me 25 –
all the suffering of the daughters in my city. 26
צ (Tsade)
3:52 For no good reason 27 my enemies
hunted me down 28 like a bird.
3:53 They shut me 29 up in a pit
and threw stones at me.
3:54 The waters closed over my head;
I thought 30 I was about to die. 31
ק (Qof)
3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit. 32
3:56 You heard 33 my plea: 34
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” 35
3:57 You came near 36 on the day I called to you;
you said, 37 “Do not fear!”
ר (Resh)
3:58 O Lord, 38 you championed 39 my cause, 40
you redeemed my life.
3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
pronounce judgment on my behalf! 41
3:60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me. 42
ש (Sin/Shin)
3:61 You have heard 43 their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
3:62 My assailants revile and conspire 44
against me all day long.
3:63 Watch them from morning to evening; 45
I am the object of their mocking songs.
ת (Tav)
3:64 Pay them back 46 what they deserve, 47 O Lord,
according to what they 48 have done. 49
3:65 Give them a distraught heart; 50
may your curse be on them!
3:66 Pursue them 51 in anger and eradicate them
from under the Lord’s heaven.