\NormalFont\ShortTitle{Lamentations}

{\MT THE LAMENTATIONS

\par }{\MTB OF JEREMIAH



\par }\PoetryChap{1}{\Q \VerseOne{1}How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!

\par }{\Q She is become as a widow, that was great among the nations!

\par }{\Q She that was a princess among the provinces is become tributary!


\par }{\Q \VS{2}She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks;

\par }{\Q Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her:

\par }{\Q All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude;

\par }{\Q She dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest:

\par }{\Q All her persecutors overtook her within the straits.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly;

\par }{\Q All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh:

\par }{\Q Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper;

\par }{\Q For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:

\par }{\Q Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}And from the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed:

\par }{\Q Her princes are become like harts that find no pasture,

\par }{\Q And they are gone without strength before the pursuer.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}Jerusalem remembereth in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old:

\par }{\Q When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none did help her,

\par }{\Q The adversaries saw her, they did mock at her desolations.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is become as an unclean thing;

\par }{\Q All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness:

\par }{\Q Yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Her filthiness was in her skirts; she remembered not her latter end;

\par }{\Q Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she hath no comforter:

\par }{\Q Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things:

\par }{\Q For she hath seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary,

\par }{\Q Concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thine assembly.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}All her people sigh, they seek bread;

\par }{\Q They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul:

\par }{\Q See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{12}Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?

\par }{\Q Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is brought upon me,

\par }{\Q Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted
{\ADD{me}} in the day of his fierce anger.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them;

\par }{\Q He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back:

\par }{\Q He hath made me desolate and faint all the day.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand;

\par }{\Q They are knit together, they are come up upon my neck; he hath made my strength to fail:

\par }{\Q The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}The Lord hath set at nought all my mighty men in the midst of me;

\par }{\Q He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men:

\par }{\Q The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water;

\par }{\Q Because the comforter that should refresh my soul is far from me:

\par }{\Q My children are desolate, because the enemy hath prevailed.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her;

\par }{\Q Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, that they that are round about him should be his adversaries:

\par }{\Q Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment:

\par }{\Q Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow:

\par }{\Q My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}I called for my lovers,
{\ADD{but}} they deceived me:

\par }{\Q My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city,

\par }{\Q While they sought them food to refresh their souls.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{20}Behold, O Jehovah; for I am in distress; my heart is troubled;

\par }{\Q My heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled:

\par }{\Q Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me;

\par }{\Q All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it:

\par }{\Q Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast proclaimed, and they shall be like unto me.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}Let all their wickedness come before thee;

\par }{\Q And do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions:

\par }{\Q For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{2}{\Q \VerseOne{1}How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger!

\par }{\Q He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel,

\par }{\Q And hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied:

\par }{\Q He hath thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;

\par }{\Q He hath brought them down to the ground; he hath profaned the kingdom and the princes thereof.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel;

\par }{\Q He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy:

\par }{\Q And he hath burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath stood with his right hand as an adversary,

\par }{\Q And hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye:

\par }{\Q In the tent of the daughter of Zion he hath poured out his wrath like fire.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}The Lord is become as an enemy, he hath swallowed up Israel;

\par }{\Q He hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed his strongholds;

\par }{\Q And he hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; he hath destroyed his place of assembly:

\par }{\Q Jehovah hath caused solemn assembly and sabbath to be forgotten in Zion,

\par }{\Q And hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary;

\par }{\Q He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces:

\par }{\Q They have made a noise in the house of Jehovah, as in the day of a solemn assembly.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Jehovah hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion;

\par }{\Q He hath stretched out the line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying;

\par }{\Q And he hath made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars:

\par }{\Q Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not;

\par }{\Q Yea, her prophets find no vision from Jehovah.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence;

\par }{\Q They have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth:

\par }{\Q The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{11}Mine eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled;

\par }{\Q My liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

\par }{\Q Because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine?

\par }{\Q When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city,

\par }{\Q When their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}What shall I testify unto thee? what shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?

\par }{\Q What shall I compare to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?

\par }{\Q For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?


\par }{\Q \VS{14}Thy prophets have seen for thee false and foolish visions;

\par }{\Q And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity,

\par }{\Q But have seen for thee false oracles and causes of banishment.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}All that pass by clap their hands at thee;

\par }{\Q They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem,
{\ADD{saying}},

\par }{\Q Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?


\par }{\Q \VS{16}All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee;

\par }{\Q They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up;

\par }{\Q Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Jehovah hath done that which he purposed; he hath fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old;

\par }{\Q He hath thrown down, and hath not pitied:

\par }{\Q And he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee; he hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Their heart cried unto the Lord:

\par }{\Q O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night;

\par }{\Q Give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches;

\par }{\Q Pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord:

\par }{\Q Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{20}See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou hast done thus!

\par }{\Q Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands?

\par }{\Q Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?


\par }{\Q \VS{21}The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets;

\par }{\Q My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword:

\par }{\Q Thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast slaughtered,
{\ADD{and}} not pitied.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}Thou hast called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side;

\par }{\Q And there was none that escaped or remained in the day of Jehovah’s anger:

\par }{\Q Those that I have dandled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{3}{\Q \VerseOne{1}I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}He hath caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{19}Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}{\ADD{It is of}} Jehovah’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.


\par }{\Q \VS{23}They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.


\par }{\Q \VS{24}Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.


\par }{\Q \VS{26}It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.


\par }{\Q \VS{27}It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.


\par }{\Q \VS{28}Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.


\par }{\Q \VS{29}Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.


\par }{\Q \VS{30}Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be filled full with reproach.


\par }{\Q \VS{31}For the Lord will not cast off for ever.


\par }{\Q \VS{32}For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.


\par }{\Q \VS{33}For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.


\par }{\Q \VS{34}To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,


\par }{\Q \VS{35}To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,


\par }{\Q \VS{36}To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.


\par }{\Q \VS{37}Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?


\par }{\Q \VS{38}Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good?


\par }{\Q \VS{39}Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{40}Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.


\par }{\Q \VS{41}Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.


\par }{\Q \VS{42}We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned.


\par }{\Q \VS{43}Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.


\par }{\Q \VS{44}Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.


\par }{\Q \VS{45}Thou hast made us an offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.


\par }{\Q \VS{46}All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.


\par }{\Q \VS{47}Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction.


\par }{\Q \VS{48}Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.


\par }{\Q \VS{49}Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,


\par }{\Q \VS{50}Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.


\par }{\Q \VS{51}Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.


\par }{\Q \VS{52}They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause.


\par }{\Q \VS{53}They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me.


\par }{\Q \VS{54}Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{55}I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon.


\par }{\Q \VS{56}Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.


\par }{\Q \VS{57}Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.


\par }{\Q \VS{58}O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.


\par }{\Q \VS{59}O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.


\par }{\Q \VS{60}Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.


\par }{\Q \VS{61}Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me,


\par }{\Q \VS{62}The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.


\par }{\Q \VS{63}Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.


\par }{\Q \VS{64}Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands.


\par }{\Q \VS{65}Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.


\par }{\Q \VS{66}Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{4}{\Q \VerseOne{1}How is the gold become dim!
{\ADD{how}} is the most pure gold changed!

\par }{\Q The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold,

\par }{\Q How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones:

\par }{\Q The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst:

\par }{\Q The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:

\par }{\Q They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom,

\par }{\Q That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid upon her.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk;

\par }{\Q They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets:

\par }{\Q Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger;

\par }{\Q For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children;

\par }{\Q They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{11}Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger;

\par }{\Q And he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world,

\par }{\Q That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}{\ADD{It is}} because of the sins of her prophets,
{\ADD{and}} the iniquities of her priests,

\par }{\Q That have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood,

\par }{\Q So that men cannot touch their garments.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}Depart ye, they cried unto them, Unclean! depart, depart, touch not!

\par }{\Q When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn
{\ADD{here}}.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more regard them:

\par }{\Q They respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{17}Our eyes do yet fail
{\ADD{in looking}} for our vain help:

\par }{\Q In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets:

\par }{\Q Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens:

\par }{\Q They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits;

\par }{\Q Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{21}Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz:

\par }{\Q The cup shall pass through unto thee also; thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity:

\par }{\Q He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover thy sins.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{5}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us:

\par }{\Q Behold, and see our reproach.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Our inheritance is turned unto strangers,

\par }{\Q Our houses unto aliens.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}We are orphans and fatherless;

\par }{\Q Our mothers are as widows.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}We have drunken our water for money;

\par }{\Q Our wood is sold unto us.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Our pursuers are upon our necks:

\par }{\Q We are weary, and have no rest.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}We have given the hand to the Egyptians,

\par }{\Q And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}Our fathers sinned, and are not;

\par }{\Q And we have borne their iniquities.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Servants rule over us:

\par }{\Q There is none to deliver us out of their hand.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}We get our bread at the peril of our lives,

\par }{\Q Because of the sword of the wilderness.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Our skin is black like an oven,

\par }{\Q Because of the burning heat of famine.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}They ravished the women in Zion,

\par }{\Q The virgins in the cities of Judah.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}Princes were hanged up by their hand:

\par }{\Q The faces of elders were not honored.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}The young men bare the mill;

\par }{\Q And the children stumbled under the wood.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}The elders have ceased from the gate,

\par }{\Q The young men from their music.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}The joy of our heart is ceased;

\par }{\Q Our dance is turned into mourning.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}The crown is fallen from our head:

\par }{\Q Woe unto us! for we have sinned.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For this our heart is faint;

\par }{\Q For these things our eyes are dim;


\par }{\Q \VS{18}For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:

\par }{\Q The foxes walk upon it.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{19}Thou, O Jehovah, abidest for ever;

\par }{\Q Thy throne is from generation to generation.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{And}} forsake us so long time?


\par }{\Q \VS{21}Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned;

\par }{\Q Renew our days as of old.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}But thou hast utterly rejected us;

\par }{\Q Thou art very wroth against us.


\par }