Lamentations 3–5

3I am ^athe man that ^bhath seen affliction ^cby the rod of his wrath.

²He hath led me, and ^dbrought me into darkness, but not into light.

³Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.

⁴My flesh and my skin ^ehath he made old; ^fhe hath broken my bones.

^5gHe hath builded against me, and ^hcompassed me with ⁱgall and ^ktravail.

^6lHe hath set me in dark places, ^las they that be dead of old.

^7mHe hath hedged me about, ⁿthat I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.

⁸Also ^owhen I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

^9mHe hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath ^pmade my paths crooked.

¹⁰He was unto me as ^qa bear lying in wait, and as ^ra lion in secret places.

¹¹He hath turned aside my ways, and ^spulled me in pieces: he hath made me ^tdesolate.

¹²He ^uhath bent his bow, and ^vset me as a mark for the arrow.

^13wHe hath caused the ^†arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

¹⁴I was ^xa derision to all my people; and ^ytheir song all the day.

^15zHe hath filled me with ^†bitterness, ^ahe hath made me drunken with wormwood.

¹⁶He hath also broken my teeth with ^bgravel stones, he hath ^||covered me with ashes.

¹⁷And thou hast ^bbremoved my soul far off from peace: I forgat ^†prosperity.

^18cAnd I said, ^ccMy strength and ^dmy hope is perished from the Lord:

^19||Remembering mine ^eaffliction and my ^emisery, ^athe wormwood and ^fthe gall.

²⁰My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is ^†humbled in me.

²¹This I ^†recall to my mind, ^ftherefore have I hope.

²²It is of the Lord’s mercies that ^ghwe are not consumed, ^hbecause his compassions fail not.

²³They are new ⁱevery morning: ^kgreat is thy faithfulness.

²⁴The Lord is ^lmy portion, saith ^mmy soul; ^ftherefore ^mwill I hope in him.

²⁵The Lord is good unto them ⁿthat wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

²⁶It is good that a man should both ^ophope and ^pqquietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

^27qqIt is good for a man ^rthat he bear the yoke ^sin his youth.

^28tHe sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

^29uHe putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

^30vHe giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.

³¹For the Lord will not ^bbcast off for ever:

³²But though he ^wcause grief, yet will he have compassion ^xaccording to the multitude of his mercies.

³³For ^yhe doth not ^wafflict ^†willingly nor ^wgrieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush under his feet all ^zthe prisoners of the earth,

³⁵To turn aside the right of a man before the face of ^||athe most High,

³⁶To ^bsubvert a man in his cause, ^cthe Lord ^||approveth not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

^46pAll our enemies ^qhave opened their mouths against us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

^66zPersecute 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.

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

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

³Even 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.

⁴The 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.

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

They that were brought up ^mnin scarlet ^oembrace dunghills.

⁶For ^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.

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

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

⁸Their 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.

⁹They 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.

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

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

¹¹The 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.

¹²The 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.

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

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

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

^||kSo that men could not touch their garments.

¹⁵They 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.

^16mThe ^||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.

^17mAs 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.

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

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

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

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

^20wThe 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.

^21bRejoice 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.

^2dOur inheritance is turned to strangers,

Our houses to aliens.

³We are orphans and fatherless,

Our mothers are as widows.

⁴We have drunken our water for money;

Our wood ^†is sold unto us.

^5†Our necks are under persecution:

^fWe labour, and have no rest.

^6gWe have given the hand ^hto the Egyptians,

And ^hto the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

^7ikOur fathers have sinned, and ^klare not;

And ⁱwe have borne their iniquities.

^8mServants have ruled over us:

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

⁹We gat our bread with the peril of our lives

Because of the sword of the wilderness.

^10oOur skin was black like an oven

Because of the ^||terrible famine.

^11pqThey ravished the women in Zion,

And ^qthe maids in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes are hanged up by their hand:

The faces of ^relders ^swere not honoured.

¹³They took the young men ^ssto grind,

And the children ^tfell under the wood.

^14rThe elders have ceased from the gate,

The young men from ^tttheir musick.

¹⁵The joy of our heart is ceased;

^uOur dance ^vis turned into mourning.

^16w†The crown is fallen from our head:

Woe unto us, that we have sinned!

¹⁷For this ^xour heart is faint;

For these things ^your eyes are dim.

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

^zThe foxes walk upon it.

^19aThou, O Lord, remainest for ever;

^bThy throne from generation to generation.

^20cWherefore dost thou forget us for ever,

And forsake us ^†so long time?

^21dTurn 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.