Lamentations

1 ¶ How lonely sits the city that was full of people! ^aHow has she become as a widow! She who was great among the nations, and ^bprincess among the provinces, how has she become a slave!

2 She ^cweeps bitterly in the ^dnight and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies.

3 ^eJudah has gone into captivity under affliction and under great servitude. ^fShe dwells among the nations. She finds no rest. All her persecutors overtook her in the midst of her troubles.

4 The roads to Zion mourn because no one comes to the solemn feasts. All her gates are ^hdesolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted and she is in bitterness.

5 Her adversaries ⁱhave become her masters. Her enemies prosper, for the LORD has afflicted her ^jbecause of the multitude of her transgressions. Her ^kchildren have gone into captivity before the enemy.

6 All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture, that flee without strength before the pursuer.

7 Jerusalem ^lremembered 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 no one helped her. The adversaries saw her and mocked at her downfall.

8 ¶ ^mJerusalem has grievously sinned. Therefore, she is filthy. All who honored her despise her because ⁿthey have seen her nakedness. Yes, she sighs and turns backward.

9 Her filthiness is in her skirts. ^oShe did not consider her destiny. Therefore, she came down astonishingly. She had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself.

10 The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things, for she has seen that ^pthe nations entered into her sanctuary, whom You commanded that they should ^qnot enter into Your assembly.

11 All her people sigh. ^rThey seek bread. They have given their treasures for food in order to live. "See, O LORD, and consider, for I am scorned."

12 ¶ "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold, and see ^sif there is any sorrow like my sorrow, that has been brought on me, which the LORD has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.

13 "From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them. He has ^tspread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day.

14 ^u"The yoke of my transgressions was bound by His hand. They were woven and came up to my neck. He has made my strength fall. The Lord has delivered me into their hands. I am not able to rise up.

15 "The Lord has trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me. He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men. The ^vLord has trampled the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

16 "For these things I weep. My eye, ^wmy eye runs down with water because the comforter who should relieve my soul is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy prevailed."

17 ^xZion spreads forth her hands and there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be ^yall around him. Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

18 ¶ "The LORD is ^zrighteous, for I have ^arebelled against His commandment. Hear now all you people and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

19 "I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city while they sought food to restore their own strength.

20 "Behold, O LORD, for I am in distress. My ^bsoul is greatly troubled. My heart has turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. ^cIn the street the sword slays. In the house it is like death.

21 "They have heard that I sigh. There is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. ^dThey are glad that You have done it. Oh, that You would bring ^ethe day that You have announced so that they may become like me.

22 ^f"Let all their wickedness come before You, and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many and my heart is faint."

1 ¶ How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a ^acloud in His anger! ^bHe has cast down from heaven to the earth ^cthe beauty of Israel, and not remembered ^dHis footstool in the day of His anger!

2 The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob and has had ^eno pity. He has thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. ^fHe has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

3 He has cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel. ^gHe has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and ^hburned against Jacob like a flaming fire that devours all around.

4 ⁱHe has bent His bow like an enemy. He stood with His right hand as an adversary and slew ^jall who were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He poured out His fury like fire.

5 ^kThe Lord was as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. ^lHe has destroyed her strongholds, and has increased mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah.

6 And He has violently taken away ^mHis tabernacle ⁿas if it were of a garden. He has destroyed His places of the assembly. The LORD has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and has ^odespised king and priest in the indignation of His anger.

7 The Lord has cast off His altar. He has ^pabandoned His sanctuary. He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. ^qThey have made a noise in the house of the LORD as in the day of a solemn feast.

8 The LORD has purposed to destroy the ^rwall of the daughter of Zion. ^sHe has stretched out a line. He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying. Therefore, He made the rampart and the wall to lament. They languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and ^tbroken her bars. ^uHer king and her princes are among the nations. ^vThe law is no more. Her ^wprophets also find no vision from the LORD.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion ^xsit upon the ground and keep silent. They have ^ycast dust upon their heads. They have ^zgirded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

11 ¶ ^aMy eyes fail because of tears. My spirit is greatly troubled. ^bMy heart is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because ^cthe children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers, "Where is grain and wine?", as they faint as the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom.

13 How will I ^dadmonish you? To what will I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what will I equal you so that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea. Who can heal you?

14 Your ^eprophets have seen vain and foolish things for you. And they have not ^funcovered your iniquity to turn away your captivity. But they have envisioned for you false and ^gmisleading oracles.

15 All who pass by ^hclap their hands at you. They hiss and ⁱwag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, "Is this the city that men call ^jThe Perfection of Beauty, The Joy of the Whole Earth?"

16 ^kAll your enemies have opened their mouth against you. They hiss and gnash the teeth. They say, ^l"We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is ^mthe day for which we hoped. We have found it and ⁿwe have seen it."

17 The LORD has done what ^oHe had devised. He has fulfilled His word that He had commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down and has not pitied. And He has caused your enemy to ^prejoice over you. He has set up the horn of your adversaries.

18 ¶ Their heart cried out to the Lord, "O wall of the daughter of Zion, ^qlet tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let the apple of your eye cease.

19 "Arise! ^rCry out in the night. In the beginning of the watches ^spour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your young children who faint because of hunger ^tat the head of every street."

20 ¶ Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom You have done this. ^uWill the women eat their offspring and children who were born healthy? Will the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 ^v"The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the ^wsword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger. You have killed and not pitied.

22 "You have called as in a solemn day my ^xterrors all around, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger no one escapes or remains. ^yThose whom I have borne and brought up, my enemy ^zhas consumed."

1 ¶ I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

2 He has led me and brought me into darkness, and not into light.

3 Surely against me He has turned. He turns His hand against me all day long.

4 He has made old ^amy flesh and my skin. He has ^bbroken my bones.

5 He has built against me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

6 ^cHe has set me in dark places as those who have long been dead.

7 ^dHe has hedged me in so that I cannot get out. He has made my chain heavy.

8 Also ^ewhen I cry out and shout, He shuts out my prayer.

9 He has enclosed my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.

10 ^fHe was to me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places.

11 He has turned aside my ways and ^gtorn me in pieces. He has made me desolate.

12 He has bent His bow and ^hset me as a target for the arrow.

13 He has caused the ⁱarrows of His quiver to enter into my inward parts.

14 I am a ^jlaughingstock to all my people, and ^ktheir taunting song all day long.

15 ^lHe has filled me with bitterness. He has made me drunken with wormwood.

16 He has also broken my teeth with ^mgravel stones. He has covered me with ashes.

17 And You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot happiness.

18 ⁿAnd I said, "My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD."

19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my misery, the ^owormwood and the gall.

20 My soul still remembers and is bowed down within me.

21 This I recall to my mind, therefore I have ^phope.

22 ^qBecause of the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, for His compassion does ^rnot fail.

23 They are new ^severy morning. Great is Your faithfulness.

24 "The LORD is my ^tportion," says my soul, "therefore I will ^uhope in Him."

25 The LORD is good to those who ^vwait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that a man should both ^whope and quietly ^xwait for the salvation of the LORD.

27 ^yIt is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

28 ^zHe sits alone and keeps silence, because He has laid it upon him.

29 ^aHe puts his mouth in the dust, if perhaps there is hope.

30 ^bHe gives his cheek to him who smites him. He is filled full with reproach.

31 ^cFor the Lord will not reject forever.

32 Though He causes grief, yet He will have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.

33 For ^dHe does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men,

34 to crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth,

35 to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,

36 to subvert a man in his cause, ^ethe Lord does not approve.

37 Who is ^fhe who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord does not command it?

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ^gwoe go forth?

39 ^hWhy does a living man complain, ⁱa man for the punishment of his sins?

40 ¶ Let us search and examine our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

41 ^jLet us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.

42 ^kWe have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.

43 ¶ You have covered with anger and persecuted us. You have slain. You have not pitied.

44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that our prayer should not pass through.

45 You have made us as the ^loffscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

46 ^mAll our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

47 ⁿFear and a snare have come upon us, ^odesolation and destruction.

48 ¶ ^pMy eye runs down with rivers of water because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 ^qMy eye trickles down, and does not cease, without any interruption,

50 until the LORD ^rlooks down and beholds from heaven.

51 My eye affects my heart because of all the daughters of my city.

52 ^sWithout cause my enemies hunted me down like a bird.

53 They have cut off my life ^tin the dungeon and ^ucast a stone upon me.

54 ^vWaters flowed over my head. Then ^wI said, "I am cut off."

55 ¶ ^xI called upon Your name, O LORD, out of the lowest ^ydungeon.

56 ^zYou have heard my voice. Do not hide Your ear from my breathing, from my cry.

57 You ^adrew near in the day that I called upon You. You said, ^b"Do not fear."

58 O Lord, You have ^cpleaded the case of my soul. ^dYou have redeemed my life.

59 O LORD, You have seen my wrong. ^eJudge my case.

60 You have seen all their vengeance and all ^ftheir imaginations against me,

61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their schemes against me,

62 the lips of those who rose up against me, and their device against me all day long.

63 Behold their ^gsitting down and their rising up. I am their mocking song.

64 ^hRepay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

65 Give them sorrow of heart, Your curse to them.

66 In Your anger, persecute and destroy them ⁱfrom under the heavens of the ^jLORD.

1 ¶ How the gold becomes dim! How the most fine gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as ^aclay pots, the work of the hands of the potter!

3 Even the jackals offer the breast. They give suck to their young ones. The daughter of my people has become cruel, ^blike the ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the nursing child cleaves to the roof of his mouth because of thirst. The ^cyoung children ask for bread and no one breaks it for them.

5 Those who fed delicately are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in scarlet ^dembrace ash heaps.

6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the ^esin of Sodom that was ^foverthrown in a moment, and no hands were turned toward her.

7 Her princes were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.

8 Their appearance is blacker than soot. They are not known in the streets. ^gTheir skin cleaves to their bones. It has withered. It has become like wood.

9 Those who are slain with the sword are better off than those who are slain with hunger. For these ^hpine away, stricken through for lack of the fruits of the ⁱfield.

10 The hands of ^jcompassionate women boiled their ^kown children. They were their ^lfood in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The LORD has accomplished His fury. ^mHe has poured out His fierce anger and has ⁿkindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy could have ^oentered into the gates of Jerusalem.

13 ¶ ^pBecause of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests ^qwho have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

14 they have wandered as blind men in the streets. ^rThey have polluted themselves with blood ^sso that men could not touch their garments.

15 They cried out to them, "Depart! ^tUnclean! Depart, depart, do not touch!" So they fled and wandered. People among the nations said, "They will not continue to dwell with us."

16 The anger of the LORD has divided them. He will no longer regard them. ^uThe people do not respect the priests. They do not favor the elders.

17 ¶ Yet ^vour eyes failed. Looking for help was useless. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

18 ^wThey hunted our steps so that we cannot go in our streets. ^xOur end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.

19 Our persecutors are ^yswifter than the eagles of the heaven. They pursued us upon the mountains. They laid wait for us in the wilderness.

20 The ^zbreath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, ^awas caught in their pits, of whom we said, "Under His shadow we will live among the nations."

21 ¶ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^bEdom who dwells in the land of Uz. The ^ccup will also pass through to you. You will be drunken and will make yourself naked.

22 ^dThe punishment of your iniquity is completed, O daughter of Zion. He will no longer carry you away into captivity. ^eHe will visit your iniquity, O daughter of Edom. He will uncover your sins.

1 ¶ Remember, ^aO LORD, what has come upon us. Consider and behold ^bour reproach.

2 ^cOur inheritance has been turned over to aliens, our houses to foreigners.

3 We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as ^dwidows.

4 We have to pay for our drinking water. Our wood is sold to us.

5 ^eOur necks are under persecution. We labor and have no rest.

6 ^fWe have submitted ^gto Egypt and ^hAssyria to get enough bread.

7 ¶ ⁱOur fathers have sinned and are no more. And we have borne their iniquities.

8 Servants have ruled over us. There is no one who delivers us out of their hand.

9 We get our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

10 Our skin is hot as an oven because of the terrible famine.

11 They ^jravished the women in Zion and the maidens in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes are hung by their hands. The faces of elders were not honored.

13 They took the young men ^kto grind and the children fell under the loads of wood.

14 The elders have gone from the gate, the young men from their ^lmusic.

15 The joy of our heart has ceased. Our dance has turned into ^mmourning.

16 ⁿThe crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 Because of this our heart is faint. ^oBecause of these things our eyes are dim.

18 Because of the mountain of Zion that is ^pdesolate, the foxes walk upon it.

19 ¶ You, O LORD, ^qremain forever, ^rYour throne from generation to generation.

20 ^sWhy do You forget us forever and forsake us for such a long time?

21 ^tTurn us to You, O LORD, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old.

22 But You have utterly rejected us. You are very angry against us.