Lamentations 3:37–5:22

37  dWho is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

38  Out of the mouth of athe most High proceedeth not eevil and good?

39  fWherefore doth a living man ||complain, ga man for hthe punishment of his sins?

40  Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.

41  iLet us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

42  kWe have transgressed and lhave rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.

43  Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: mthou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

44  Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, nthat our prayer should not pass through.

45  Thou hast made us as othe offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

46  pAll our enemies qhave opened their mouths against us.

47  rFear and ra snare is come upon us, desolation and sdestruction.

48  tMine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49  pMine eye utrickleth down, and vceaseth not, uwithout any intermission,

50  Till wthe Lord look down, and behold from heaven.

51  Mine eye xaffecteth †mine heart ||because of all the daughters of my city.

52  Mine enemies ychased me sore, zlike a bird, awithout cause.

53  They have bcut off my life cin the dungeon, and dcast a stone upon me.

54  eWaters flowed over mine head; then fI said, fgI am cut off.

55  hI called upon thy name, O Lord, iout of the low dungeon.

56  hkThou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my lbreathing, at my cry.

57  mThou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: nthou saidst, Fear not.

58  O Lord, thou hast oppleaded the causes of my soul; pqthou hast redeemed my life.

59  O Lord, thou hast seen my rwrong: sjudge thou my cause.

60  Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all ttheir imaginations against me.

61  Thou hast heard tttheir reproach, O Lord, and all ttheir imaginations against me;

62  The lips of uthose that rose up against me, and their vdevice against me all the day.

63  Behold their wsitting down, and their wrising up; xI am their musick.

64  yzRender unto them a recompence, O Lord, yaccording to the work of their hands.

65  zGive them ||sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.

66  zPersecute and destroy them in anger afrom under bthe heavens of the Lord.

4 aHow is the gold become dim! how is bthe most fine gold changed!

The stones of the sanctuary are poured out cin the top of every street.

2  The precious sons of Zion, comparable to dfine gold,

aHow are they esteemed eas earthen fpitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

3  Even the ||sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones:

The daughter of my people is become gcruel, like hthe ostriches in the wilderness.

4  The tongue of the sucking child icleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst:

kThe young children ask bread, and no man lbreaketh it unto them.

5  They that did feed mdelicately are desolate in the streets:

They that were brought up mnin scarlet oembrace dunghills.

6  For pthe ||punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people qis greater than rthe punishment of the sin of Sodom,

sThat was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

7  Her tNazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk,

They were more ruddy in ubody than vrubies, their wpolishing was of uxsapphire:

8  Their visage is y†blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets:

zTheir skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

9  They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger:

For these †pine away, astricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

10  bThe hands of cthe pitiful women dhave sodden their own children:

They were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11  The Lord ddhath accomplished his fury; ehe hath poured out fhis fierce anger,

And ghath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

12  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.

13  hFor the sins of her prophets, and hthe iniquities of her priests,

iThat have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

14  They have wandered as blind men in the streets, jthey have polluted themselves with blood,

||kSo that men could not touch their garments.

15  They cried unto them, Depart ye; ||it is lunclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered,

They said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.

16  mThe ||anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them:

They respected not the persons of the priests, nthey favoured not the elders.

17  mAs for us, oour eyes as yet failed pfor our vain help:

In our watching we have watched qfor a nation that could not save us.

18  rThey hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets:

Our end is near, sour days are fulfilled; for tour end is come.

19  Our persecutors are uswifter than the eagles of the heaven:

They vpursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

20  wThe breath of our nostrils, xthe anointed of the Lord, ywas taken in their zpits,

Of whom we said, aUnder his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

21  bRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of cUz;

dThe cup also shall pass through eunto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and fshalt make thyself naked.

22  ||gThe punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; hhe will no more carry thee away into captivity:

eHe will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will ||discover thy sins.

5 aRemember, O Lord, what is come upon us:

cConsider, and bbehold acour reproach.

2  dOur inheritance is turned to strangers,

Our houses to aliens.

3  We are orphans and fatherless,

Our mothers are as widows.

4  We have drunken our water for money;

Our wood †is sold unto us.

5  †Our necks are under persecution:

fWe labour, and have no rest.

6  gWe have given the hand hto the Egyptians,

And hto the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7  ikOur fathers have sinned, and klare not;

And iwe have borne their iniquities.

8  mServants have ruled over us:

There is none that doth ndeliver us out of their hand.

9  We gat our bread with the peril of our lives

Because of the sword of the wilderness.

10  oOur skin was black like an oven

Because of the ||terrible famine.

11  pqThey ravished the women in Zion,

And qthe maids in the cities of Judah.

12  Princes are hanged up by their hand:

The faces of relders swere not honoured.

13  They took the young men ssto grind,

And the children tfell under the wood.

14  rThe elders have ceased from the gate,

The young men from tttheir musick.

15  The joy of our heart is ceased;

uOur dance vis turned into mourning.

16  w†The crown is fallen from our head:

Woe unto us, that we have sinned!

17  For this xour heart is faint;

For these things your eyes are dim.

18  Because of the mountain of Zion, yywhich is desolate,

zThe foxes walk upon it.

19  aThou, O Lord, remainest for ever;

bThy throne from generation to generation.

20  cWherefore dost thou forget us for ever,

And forsake us †so long time?

21  dTurn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned;

eRenew our days as of old.

22  ||But fthou hast utterly rejected us;

Thou art very wroth against us.