Book 25 Lamentations
001:001 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how
is she become as a widow! she that was great among the
nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become
tributary!
001:002 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her
cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all
her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become
her enemies.
001:003 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and
because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen,
she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between
the straits.
001:004 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn
feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her
virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
001:005 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the
LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her
transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before
the enemy.
001:006 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her
princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they
are gone without strength before the pursuer.
001:007 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her
miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of
old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none
did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her
sabbaths.
001:008 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed:
all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her
nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
001:009 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last
end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no
comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath
magnified himself.
001:010 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant
things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her
sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter
into thy congregation.
001:011 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their
pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and
consider; for I am become vile.
001:012 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if
there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto
me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his
fierce anger.
001:013 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth
against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned
me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
001:014 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are
wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength
to fall, the LORD hath delivered me into their hands, from
whom I am not able to rise up.
001:015 The LORD hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the
midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my
young men: the LORD hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of
Judah, as in a winepress.
001:016 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with
water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is
far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy
prevailed.
001:017 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort
her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his
adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a
menstruous woman among them.
001:018 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his
commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my
sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
001:019 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and
mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought
their meat to relieve their souls.
001:020 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled;
mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously
rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as
death.
001:021 They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all
mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou
hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called,
and they shall be like unto me.
001:022 Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them,
as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my
sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
002:001 How hath the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in
his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty
of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his
anger!
002:002 The LORD hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and
hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong
holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to
the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes
thereof.
002:003 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he
hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he
burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth
round about.
002:004 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right
hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the
eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out
his fury like fire.
002:005 The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath
swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong
holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning
and lamentation.
002:006 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were
of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the
LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be
forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his
anger the king and the priest.
002:007 The LORD hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his
sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the
walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of
the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
002:008 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of
Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his
hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the
wall to lament; they languished together.
002:009 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and
broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the
Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision
from the LORD.
002:010 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and
keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they
have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of
Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
002:011 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver
is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter
of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in
the streets of the city.
002:012 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they
swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their
soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
002:013 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall
I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal
to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?
for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
002:014 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and
they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy
captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of
banishment.
002:015 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag
their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the
city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the
whole earth?
002:016 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they
hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up:
certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found,
we have seen it.
002:017 The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath
fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old:
he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused
thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of
thine adversaries.
002:018 Their heart cried unto the LORD, O wall of the daughter of
Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give
thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
002:019 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches
pour out thine heart like water before the face of the LORD:
lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young
children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
002:020 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this.
Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long?
shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of
the Lord?
002:021 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my
virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast
slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and
not pitied.
002:022 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so
that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained:
those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy
consumed.
003:001 I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his
wrath.
003:002 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into
light.
003:003 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me
all the day.
003:004 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my
bones.
003:005 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and
travail.
003:006 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
003:007 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made
my chain heavy.
003:008 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
003:009 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my
paths crooked.
003:010 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in
secret places.
003:011 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath
made me desolate.
003:012 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
003:013 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my
reins.
003:014 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
003:015 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken
with wormwood.
003:016 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath
covered me with ashes.
003:017 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat
prosperity.
003:018 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
003:019 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and
the gall.
003:020 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
003:021 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
003:022 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because
his compassions fail not.
003:023 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
003:024 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope
in him.
003:025 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that
seeketh him.
003:026 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for
the salvation of the LORD.
003:027 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth.
003:028 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it
upon him.
003:029 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
003:030 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full
with reproach.
003:031 For the LORD will not cast off for ever:
003:032 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion
according to the multitude of his mercies.
003:033 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of
men.
003:034 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.
003:035 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most
High,
003:036 To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD approveth not.
003:037 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord
commandeth it not?
003:038 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and
good?
003:039 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment
of his sins?
003:040 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
003:041 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the
heavens.
003:042 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not
pardoned.
003:043 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast
slain, thou hast not pitied.
003:044 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should
not pass through.
003:045 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst
of the people.
003:046 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
003:047 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
003:048 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction
of the daughter of my people.
003:049 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any
intermission.
003:050 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
003:051 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of
my city.
003:052 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
003:053 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone
upon me.
003:054 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
003:055 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
003:056 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing,
at my cry.
003:057 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou
saidst, Fear not.
003:058 O LORD, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast
redeemed my life.
003:059 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
003:060 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations
against me.
003:061 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their
imaginations against me;
003:062 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device
against me all the day.
003:063 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their
musick.
003:064 Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work
of their hands.
003:065 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
003:066 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of
the LORD.
004:001 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed!
the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every
street.
004:002 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are
they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of
the potter!
004:003 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to
their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
004:004 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his
mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man
breaketh it unto them.
004:005 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:
they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
004:006 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my
people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom,
that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on
her.
004:007 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than
milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their
polishing was of sapphire:
004:008 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the
streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered,
it is become like a stick.
004:009 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be
slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for
want of the fruits of the field.
004:010 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children:
they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my
people.
004:011 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his
fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath
devoured the foundations thereof.
004:012 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world,
would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy
should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
004:013 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her
priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of
her,
004:014 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have
polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch
their garments.
004:015 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart,
depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said
among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
004:016 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more
regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests,
they favoured not the elders.
004:017 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our
watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
004:018 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end
is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
004:019 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven:
they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in
the wilderness.
004:020 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was
taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we
shall live among the heathen.
004:021 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the
land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou
shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
004:022 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter
of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he
will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will
discover thy sins.
005:001 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold
our reproach.
005:002 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
005:003 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
005:004 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
005:005 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
005:006 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians,
to be satisfied with bread.
005:007 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their
iniquities.
005:008 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver
us out of their hand.
005:009 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the
sword of the wilderness.
005:010 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible
famine.
005:011 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities
of Judah.
005:012 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were
not honoured.
005:013 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under
the wood.
005:014 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their
musick.
005:015 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into
mourning.
005:016 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have
sinned!
005:017 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are
dim.
005:018 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes
walk upon it.
005:019 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation
to generation.
005:020 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long
time?
005:021 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew
our days as of old.
005:022 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against
us.
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