Lamentations 1–2

^aHow doth the city ^bsit solitary, that was full of people!

^cHow is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations,

And ^dprincess among ^ethe provinces, how is she become ^ftributary!

²She ^gweepeth sore ^hin the night, and her tears are on her cheeks:

Among all ⁱher lovers ^kshe hath none to comfort her:

All her friends ^lhave dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

^3mJudah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude:

ⁿShe dwelleth among the heathen, ^oshe findeth no rest:

All ^pher persecutors overtook her between ^qthe straits.

⁴The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to ^rthe solemn feasts:

All ^sher gates are desolate: her priests ^tsigh:

Her virgins are ^uafflicted, and she is in bitterness.

⁵Her adversaries are ^vthe chief, her enemies ^wprosper;

For the Lord ^xhath afflicted her ^yfor the multitude of her transgressions:

^zHer children ^aare gone into captivity before the enemy.

⁶And 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 ^pthe pursuer.

⁷Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her ^bmiseries

All her pleasant things that she had ^cin 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 ^dher sabbaths.

⁸Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed:

All that honoured her despise her, because ^fthey have seen her nakedness:

Yea, ^gshe sigheth, and turneth backward.

⁹Her filthiness is in her ^hskirts; she ⁱremembereth not her last end;

Therefore she came down wonderfully: ^jshe had no comforter.

O Lord, behold my affliction: for the enemy ^khath magnified himself.

¹⁰The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things:

For she hath seen that ^lthe heathen entered into her sanctuary,

Whom thou didst command that ^mthey should not enter into thy congregation.

¹¹All her people ^gsigh, ⁿthey seek bread;

They have given ^otheir pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul:

See, O Lord, and consider; for I am become vile.

¹²Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see

^pIf there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, ^qwhich is done unto me,

Wherewith the Lord ^rhath afflicted me ^sin the day of ^sshis fierce anger.

¹³From above ^thath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them:

^uHe hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back;

He hath made me desolate and ^vfaint all the day.

^14wThe yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand:

They are ^xwreathed, and come up ^wupon 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.

¹⁵The Lord hath ^ytrodden under foot all ^zmy mighty men in the midst of me:

He hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men:

The Lord ^ahath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

¹⁶For these things I weep; mine eye, ^bmine eye runneth down with water,

Because ^cthe comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me:

My children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

¹⁷Zion ^dspreadeth forth her hands, and ^cthere is none to comfort her:

The Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him:

Jerusalem is as ^ea menstruous woman among them.

^18fThe 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.

¹⁹I called for ^gmy lovers, but they deceived me:

My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city,

^hWhile they sought their meat, ^hto relieve their souls.

²⁰Behold, O Lord; for I am in distress: ⁱmy bowels are troubled;

Mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled:

^kAbroad ^lthe sword bereaveth, ^kat home there is ^las death.

²¹They have heard that ^mI sigh; ^cthere is none to comfort me:

ⁿAll 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 ⁿthey shall be like unto me.

^22oLet all their wickedness come before thee;

And ^pdo unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions:

For ^mmy sighs are many, and ^qmy heart is faint.

II.^aHow hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger,

^aaAnd cast down from heaven unto the earth ^bthe beauty of Israel,

And remembered not ^chis footstool in the day of his anger!

²The Lord ^dhath swallowed up all ^dthe habitations of Jacob, and ^ehath not pitied:

^fHe hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah;

He hath brought them down ^gto the ground: he ^ghhath polluted the kingdom and ^hthe princes thereof.

³He hath cut off ⁱin his fierce anger all ^kthe horn of Israel:

^lHe hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy,

And ^mhe burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

⁴ⁿHe hath bent his bow ⁿⁿlike an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary,

And slew all ^othat were pleasant to the eye,

In the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

⁵ⁿⁿThe Lord was as an enemy: ^phe hath swallowed up Israel,

^pqHe hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds,

And hath increased in the daughter of Judah ^rmourning and lamentation.

⁶And ^she hath violently taken away his ^ttabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed ^uhis places of the assembly:

The Lord hath caused ^uthe solemn feasts and ^vsabbaths to be forgotten in Zion,

And ^whath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

⁷The Lord hath ^xcast off his altar, he hath ^yabhorred his sanctuary,

He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces;

^zThey have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

^8aThe Lord hath purposed to destroy ^aathe wall of the daughter of Zion:

^bHe hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying:

Therefore he made ^cthe rampart and the wall to lament; they ^dlanguished together.

⁹Her gates ^eare sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and ⁱbroken her bars:

^gHer king and her princes are among the Gentiles: ^hthe law is no more;

ⁱHer prophets also find no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion ^klsit upon the ground, and ^lkeep silence:

They have ^mcast up dust upon their heads; they have ⁿgirded themselves with sackcloth:

The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

^11osMine eyes do fail with tears, ^pmy bowels are troubled,

^qMy liver ^ris poured upon the earth, ^sfor the destruction of the daughter of my people;

Because ^tthe children and ^tthe sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

¹²They say to their mothers, ^uWhere is corn and wine?

^vWhen they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city,

When their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.

¹³What thing shall I take to witness for thee? ^wwhat thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?

^wWhat shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?

For ^xthy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?

¹⁴Thy ^xxprophets have seen ^yvain and ^zfoolish things for thee:

And ^athey have not discovered thine iniquity, ^bto turn away thy captivity;

But have seen for thee false ^cburdens and causes of banishment.

¹⁵All that pass by ^eclap their hands at thee;

They ^dehiss and ^fwag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, ^gsaying,

Is this the city that men call ^hThe perfection of beauty, ⁱThe joy of the whole earth?

^16jAll thine enemies ^khave opened their mouth against thee:

They ^dehiss and ^lgnash the teeth: they say, ^mWe have swallowed her up:

Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, ⁿwe have seen it.

^17oThe Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded ^pin the days of old:

^qHe hath thrown down, ^qand hath not pitied: and he hath ^rcaused thine enemy to rejoice over thee,

He hath set up ^sthe horn of thine adversaries.

¹⁸Their heart cried unto the Lord,

^tO wall of the daughter of Zion, ^ulet tears run down like a river ^vday and night:

Give thyself no ^wrest; let not ^xthe apple of thine eye cease.

¹⁹Arise, ^ycry out in the night: in the beginning of ^zthe watches,

^aPour out thine heart ^blike water before the face of the Lord:

Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of ^cthy young children,

^cThat faint for hunger ^din the top of every street.

²⁰Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom ^ethou hast done this.

^fShall the women eat their fruit, and children ^gof a span long?

Shall ⁱthe priest and ^hthe prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ⁱThe young and the old lie on the ground in the streets:

ⁱMy virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword;

^kThou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, ^kand not pitied.

²²Thou hast called as in ^la solemn day ^mmy terrors round about,

So that in the day of the Lord’s anger none ⁿescaped nor remained:

^oThose that I have ^pswaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

III.