\NormalFont\ShortTitle{Lamentations}

{\MT Lamentations


\par }\ChapOne{1}{\MM \par }
{\Q \VerseOne{1}The city that once was full of people is now sitting all alone.

\par }{\Q She has become like a widow, though she was a mighty nation.

\par }{\Q She was a princess among the nations, but is now forced into slavery.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}She weeps and wails in the night, and her tears cover her cheeks.

\par }{\Q None of her lovers comfort her.

\par }{\Q All her friends have betrayed her. They have become her enemies.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}After poverty and affliction, Judah has gone into exile.

\par }{\Q She lives among the nations and finds no rest.

\par }{\Q All her pursuers overtook her in her desperation.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}The roads of Zion mourn because none come to the appointed feasts.

\par }{\Q All her gates are desolate. Her priests groan.

\par }{\Q Her virgins are sorrowful and she herself is in complete distress.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Her adversaries have become her master; her enemies prosper.

\par }{\Q Yahweh has afflicted her for her many sins.

\par }{\Q Her little children go into captivity to her adversary.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}Beauty has left the daughter of Zion.

\par }{\Q Her princes have become like deer that cannot find pasture,

\par }{\Q and they go without strength before their pursuer.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}In the days of her affliction and her homelessness, Jerusalem will call to mind

\par }{\Q all her precious treasures that she had in former days.

\par }{\Q When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, no one helped her.

\par }{\Q The adversaries saw her and laughed at her destruction.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Jerusalem sinned greatly, therefore, she has become scorned as something that is filthy.

\par }{\Q All who honored her now despise her since they have seen her nakedness.

\par }{\Q She groans and tries to turn away.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}She has become unclean beneath her skirts. She did not think about her future.

\par }{\Q Her fall was terrible. There was no one to comfort her.

\par }{\Q She cried out, “Look at my affliction, Yahweh, for the enemy has become too great!”


\par }{\Q \VS{10}The adversary has put his hand on all our precious treasures.

\par }{\Q She has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,

\par }{\Q even though you had commanded that they must not enter into your assembly place.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}All her people groan as they search for bread.

\par }{\Q They have given their precious treasures for food to restore their lives.

\par }{\Q Look, Yahweh, and consider me, for I have become worthless.


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

\par }{\Q Look and see if there is anyone else's sorrow like the sorrow that is being inflicted on me,

\par }{\Q since Yahweh has tormented me on the day of his fierce anger.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}It is from on high that he has sent fire into my bones, and it has conquered them.

\par }{\Q He has spread a net for my feet and turned me back.

\par }{\Q He has made me constantly desolate and weak.


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

\par }{\Q They are knit together and placed upon my neck. He has made my strength fail.

\par }{\Q The Lord has given me over into their hands, and I am not able to stand.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}The Lord has tossed aside all my mighty men who defended me.

\par }{\Q He has called an assembly against me to crush my vigorous men.

\par }{\Q The Lord has trampled the virgin daughter of Judah in the winepress.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}For these things I weep, my eyes overflow with tears;

\par }{\Q for a comforter is far from me, one who restores my life.

\par }{\Q My children are desolate because the enemy has conquered me.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Zion has spread her hands wide; there is none to comfort her.

\par }{\Q Yahweh has commanded that those around Jacob should be his adversaries.

\par }{\Q Jerusalem is something unclean to them.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Yahweh is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment.

\par }{\Q Hear, all you peoples, and see my sorrow.

\par }{\Q My virgins and my vigorous men have gone into captivity.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}I called for my friends, but they were treacherous toward me.

\par }{\Q My priests and my elders perished in the city,

\par }{\Q while they sought food to restore their lives.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Look, Yahweh, for I am in distress; my stomach churns,

\par }{\Q my heart is disturbed within me, for I have been very rebellious.

\par }{\Q Outside, the sword bereaves a mother, inside the house there is only death.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}They have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me.

\par }{\Q All my enemies have heard of my trouble and they are glad that you have done it.

\par }{\Q You have brought the day you promised; now let them become like me.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}Let all their wickedness come before you.

\par }{\Q deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions.

\par }{\Q My groans are many and my heart is faint.



\par }\Chap{2}{\MM \par }
{\Q \VerseOne{1}The Lord has covered the daughter of Zion under the cloud of his anger.

\par }{\Q He has thrown the splendor of Israel down from heaven to earth.

\par }{\Q He has not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}The Lord has swallowed up and has had no compassion on all the towns of Jacob.

\par }{\Q In the days of his anger he has thrown down the fortified cities of the daughter of Judah;

\par }{\Q in dishonor he has brought down to the ground the kingdom and its rulers.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}With fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel.

\par }{\Q He has withdrawn his right hand from before the enemy.

\par }{\Q He has burned up Jacob like a blazing fire that devours everything around it.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Like an enemy he has bent his bow toward us,

\par }{\Q with his right is ready to shoot.

\par }{\Q He has slaughtered all who had been so pleasing to him in the tent of the daughter of Zion;

\par }{\Q he has poured out his wrath like fire.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel.

\par }{\Q He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed her strongholds.

\par }{\Q He has increased mourning and lamentation within the daughter of Judah.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}He has attacked his tabernacle like a garden hut. He has destroyed the place of the solemn assembly.

\par }{\Q Yahweh has caused both solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion,

\par }{\Q for he has despised both king and priest in the indignation of his anger.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}The Lord has rejected his altar and disowned his sanctuary.

\par }{\Q He has given over the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy.

\par }{\Q They have raised a shout in the house of Yahweh, as on the day of an appointed feast.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Yahweh decided to destroy the city wall of the daughter of Zion.

\par }{\Q He has stretched out the measuring line and has not withheld his hand from destroying the wall.

\par }{\Q He has made the ramparts and wall to lament; together they wasted away.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken the bars of her gate.

\par }{\Q Her king and her princes are among the nations, the law is no more

\par }{\Q and her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence.

\par }{\Q They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.

\par }{\Q The virgins of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}My eyes have failed from their tears; my stomach churns;

\par }{\Q my inner parts are poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

\par }{\Q children and infants faint in the streets of the city.


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

\par }{\Q as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city,

\par }{\Q their lives are poured out on the bosom of their mothers.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}What can I say to you, daughter of Jerusalem?

\par }{\Q To what can I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion?

\par }{\Q Your wound is as great as the sea. Who can heal you?


\par }{\Q \VS{14}Your prophets have seen false and worthless visions for you.

\par }{\Q They have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes,

\par }{\Q but for you they gave utterances that are false and misleading.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}All those who pass along the road clap their hands at you.

\par }{\Q They hiss and shake their heads against the daughter of Jerusalem and say,

\par }{\Q “Is this the city that they called 'The Perfection of Beauty,' 'The Joy for All of Earth'?”


\par }{\Q \VS{16}All your enemies open their mouths against you.

\par }{\Q They sneer and grind their teeth in rage and say, “We have swallowed her up!

\par }{\Q This is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!”


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Yahweh has done what he planned to do. He has fulfilled his word.

\par }{\Q He has overthrown you without pity,

\par }{\Q for he has permitted the enemy to rejoice over you; he has lifted up the horn of your enemies.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Their heart cried out to the Lord,

\par }{\Q walls of the daughter of Zion! Make your tears flow down like a river day and night.

\par }{\Q Give yourself no relief, your eyes no relief.


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

\par }{\Q Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.

\par }{\Q Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who faint with hunger at the corner of every street.”


\par }{\Q \VS{20}See, Yahweh, and consider those you have dealt in this way.

\par }{\Q Should women eat the fruit of their wombs, the children whom they have cared for?

\par }{\Q Should priest and prophet be slaughtered in the sanctuary of the Lord?


\par }{\Q \VS{21}Both the young and the old lie on the dust of the streets.

\par }{\Q My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword;

\par }{\Q you have slaughtered them without taking pity on them.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}You have summoned, as you would call the people to a feast day, my terrors on every side, on the day of the anger of Yahweh no one escaped or survived;

\par }{\Q those I cared for and raised,

\par }{\Q my enemy has destroyed.



\par }\Chap{3}{\MM \par }
{\Q \VerseOne{1}I am a man who has seen misery under the rod of Yahweh's fury.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}He drove me away and caused me to walk in darkness rather than light.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Surely he turned his hand against me again and again, the whole day long.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}He made my flesh and my skin waste away; he broke my bones.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}He built up siege works against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}He made me live in dark places, like those who died long ago.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}He built a wall around me and I cannot escape. He made my chains heavy


\par }{\Q \VS{8}and though I call out and cry for help, he shut out my prayer.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}He blocked my path with a wall of hewn stone; he made my paths crooked.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}He is like a bear waiting to ambush me, a lion in hiding;


\par }{\Q \VS{11}he turned aside my paths, he has made me desolate.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}He pierced my kidneys with the arrows of his quiver.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}I became a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunting all day long.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}He filled me with bitterness and forced me to drink wormwood.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}He has made my teeth grind with gravel, and he made me cower in the ashes.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}My soul is deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}So I say, “My endurance has perished and so has my hope in Yahweh.”


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and bitterness.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}I continually remember it and I am bowed down within me.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}But I call this to mind and therefore I have hope:


\par }{\Q \VS{22}The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases and his compassions never end,


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


\par }{\Q \VS{24}“Yahweh is my inheritance,” I said, therefore I will hope in him.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the one who seeks him.


\par }{\Q \VS{26}It is good to wait silently for the salvation of Yahweh.


\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 in silence, when it is laid upon him.


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


\par }{\Q \VS{30}Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him, and let him be filled to the full with reproach.


\par }{\Q \VS{31}For the Lord will not reject us forever,


\par }{\Q \VS{32}but though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.


\par }{\Q \VS{33}For he does not afflict from his heart or torment the children of mankind.


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


\par }{\Q \VS{35}to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,


\par }{\Q \VS{36}to deny justice to a person—the Lord would not approve such things!


\par }{\Q \VS{37}Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord decreed it?


\par }{\Q \VS{38}Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and the good come?


\par }{\Q \VS{39}How can any person alive complain? How can a person complain about the punishment for his sins?


\par }{\Q \VS{40}Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to Yahweh.


\par }{\Q \VS{41}Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in the heavens:


\par }{\Q \VS{42}“We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.


\par }{\Q \VS{43}You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us, you have killed and you have not spared.


\par }{\Q \VS{44}You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.


\par }{\Q \VS{45}You have made us like filthy scum and refuse among the nations.


\par }{\Q \VS{46}All our enemies curse us,


\par }{\Q \VS{47}panic and pitfall have come upon us, ruin and destruction.


\par }{\Q \VS{48}My eyes flow with streams of tears because my people are destroyed.


\par }{\Q \VS{49}My eyes will shed tears without ceasing, without relief,


\par }{\Q \VS{50}until Yahweh from heaven looks down and sees.


\par }{\Q \VS{51}My eyes cause me grief because of all the daughters of my city.


\par }{\Q \VS{52}I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies; they hunted me without a reason.


\par }{\Q \VS{53}They cast me into a pit and they threw a stone on me,


\par }{\Q \VS{54}and they caused waters to overflow, covering my head. I said, 'I have been cut off!'


\par }{\Q \VS{55}I called on your name, Yahweh, from the depths of the pit.


\par }{\Q \VS{56}You heard my voice when I said, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help.'


\par }{\Q \VS{57}You came near on the day I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear.'


\par }{\Q \VS{58}Lord, you defended my case, you saved my life!


\par }{\Q \VS{59}Yahweh, you have seen the wrong they have done to me; judge my case.


\par }{\Q \VS{60}You have seen their insults, all their plots against me—


\par }{\Q \VS{61}You have heard their scorn, Yahweh, and all their plans regarding me.


\par }{\Q \VS{62}The lips and the accusations of my enemies come against me all the day.


\par }{\Q \VS{63}Look at how they sit and then rise up; they mock me with their songs.


\par }{\Q \VS{64}Pay back to them, Yahweh, according to what they have done.


\par }{\Q \VS{65}You will let their hearts be shameless! May your condemnation be upon them!


\par }{\Q \VS{66}You pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens, Yahweh!”



\par }\Chap{4}{\MM \par }
{\Q \VerseOne{1}The gold has become tarnished; how the purest gold has changed!

\par }{\Q The holy stones are scattered at the corner of every street.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in pure gold,

\par }{\Q but now they are worth no more than clay jars, the work of the potter's hands!


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Even the jackals offer the breast to nurse their cubs, but

\par }{\Q the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the desert.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}The tongue of the nursing baby sticks to the roof of his mouth by thirst;

\par }{\Q the children ask for food, but there is none for them.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Those who used to feast on the finest food now starve in the streets.

\par }{\Q Those who were brought up wearing scarlet clothing now lie on piles of ashes.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom,

\par }{\Q which was overthrown in a moment and no hands were wrung for her.


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

\par }{\Q their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their form was like sapphire.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Their appearance now is darker than soot;

\par }{\Q they are not recognized in the streets.

\par }{\Q Their skin has shriveled on their bones;

\par }{\Q it has become as dry as wood.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Those who have been killed by the sword were happier than those killed by hunger,

\par }{\Q who wasted away, pierced by the lack of any harvest from the field.


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

\par }{\Q they became their food during the time

\par }{\Q when the daughter of my people was being destroyed.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Yahweh showed all his wrath; he poured out his fierce anger.

\par }{\Q He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}The kings of the earth did not believe,

\par }{\Q nor did any of the inhabitants of the world believe,

\par }{\Q that enemies or opponents could enter the gates of Jerusalem.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}This happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests

\par }{\Q who have shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}They wandered, blind, through the streets.

\par }{\Q They were so defiled by that blood that no one was allowed to touch their clothes.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}“Away! Unclean!” people cried at them. “Away! Away! Do not touch!”

\par }{\Q So they wandered about; people said among the nations, “They can stay here no longer.”


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Yahweh himself scattered them; he does not watch over them anymore.

\par }{\Q They do not honor the priests,

\par }{\Q and they did not show any favor to the elders.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Our eyes failed, looking in vain for help;

\par }{\Q from our watchtowers we watched

\par }{\Q for a nation that could not rescue us.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}They followed our steps,

\par }{\Q we could not walk in our streets.

\par }{\Q Our end was near and our days were numbered,

\par }{\Q our end had come.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the sky.

\par }{\Q They chased us to the mountains and lay in wait for us in the wilderness.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}The breath in our nostrils—Yahweh's anointed one—he was the one who was captured in their pits;

\par }{\Q of whom it was said, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”


\par }{\Q \VS{21}Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom,

\par }{\Q you who live in the land of Uz.

\par }{\Q But to you also the cup will be passed;

\par }{\Q you will be drunk and strip yourself naked.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}Daughter of Zion, your punishment will come to an end;

\par }{\Q he will not extend your exile.

\par }{\Q But daughter of Edom, he will punish;

\par }{\Q he will uncover your sins.



\par }\Chap{5}{\MM \par }
{\Q \VerseOne{1}Remember, Yahweh, what has happened to us;

\par }{\Q look and see our disgrace.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers;

\par }{\Q our houses to foreigners.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}We have become orphans, the fatherless,

\par }{\Q and our mothers are like widows.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}We must pay silver for the water we drink,

\par }{\Q and we must pay silver to get our own wood.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Those who are coming after us are close behind us;

\par }{\Q we are weary and we can find no rest.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}We have given ourselves to Egypt and to Assyria

\par }{\Q to get enough food.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}Our fathers sinned, and they are no more,

\par }{\Q and we bear their iniquities.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Slaves rule over us,

\par }{\Q and there is no one to deliver us from their hand.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}We get our bread only by risking our lives,

\par }{\Q because of the sword in the wilderness.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Our skin has grown as hot as an oven

\par }{\Q because of the burning heat of hunger.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Women are raped in Zion,

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


\par }{\Q \VS{12}Princes are hung up by their own hands,

\par }{\Q and no honor is shown to the elders.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}Young men are forced to grind grain with a millstone,

\par }{\Q and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}The elders have left the city gate,

\par }{\Q and the young men have left their music.


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

\par }{\Q and our dancing has turned into mourning.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}The crown has fallen from our head;

\par }{\Q woe to us, for we have sinned!


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For this our heart has become sick,

\par }{\Q for these things our eyes grow dim


\par }{\Q \VS{18}for Mount Zion lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}But you, Yahweh, reign forever,

\par }{\Q and you will sit upon your throne from generation to generation.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Why do you forget us forever?

\par }{\Q Why do you forsake us for so many days?


\par }{\Q \VS{21}Restore us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be restored.

\par }{\Q Renew our days as they were long ago—


\par }{\Q \VS{22}unless you have utterly rejected us

\par }{\Q and you are angry with us beyond measure.


\par }{\Q \par }
