The Lamentations of Jeremiah
American Standard Version, 1901 ed.
Chapter 1
1How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
She is become as a widow, that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces is become tributary!
2She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her
cheeks;
Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her:
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are
become her enemies.
3Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and
because of great servitude;
She dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest:
All her persecutors overtook her within the straits.
4The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn
assembly;
All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh:
Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
5Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper;
For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her
transgressions:
Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.
6And from the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed:
Her princes are become like harts that find no pasture,
And they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
7Jerusalem remembereth in the days of her affliction and of
her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the
days of old:
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none
did help her,
The adversaries saw her, they did mock at her desolations.
8Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is become
as an unclean thing;
All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her
nakedness:
Yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
9Her filthiness was in her skirts; she remembered not her
latter end;
Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she hath no comforter:
Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified
himself.
10The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her
pleasant things:
For she hath seen that the nations are entered into her
sanctuary,
Concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter
into thine assembly.
11All her people sigh, they seek bread;
They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the
soul:
See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject.
12Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow,
which is brought upon me,
Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce
anger.
13From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it
prevaileth against them;
He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back:
He hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
14The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand;
They are knit together, they are come up upon my neck; he hath
made my strength to fail:
The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, against whom I am
not able to stand.
15The Lord hath set at nought all my mighty men in the
midst of me;
He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young
men:
The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of
Judah.
16For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down
with water;
Because the comforter that should refresh my soul is far from me:
My children are desolate, because the enemy hath prevailed.
17Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort
her;
Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, that they that are
round about him should be his adversaries:
Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.
18Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his
commandment:
Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow:
My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
19I called for my lovers, [but] they deceived me:
My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city,
While they sought them food to refresh their souls.
20Behold, O Jehovah; for I am in distress; my heart is
troubled;
My heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled:
Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
21They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me;
All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that
thou hast done it:
Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast proclaimed, and they
shall be like unto me.
22Let all their wickedness come before thee;
And do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my
transgressions:
For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
Chapter 2
1How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a
cloud in his anger!
He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of
Israel,
And hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
2The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob,
and hath not pitied:
He hath thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter
of Judah;
He hath brought them down to the ground; he hath profaned the
kingdom and the princes thereof.
3He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel;
He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy:
And he hath burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth
round about.
4He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath stood with his
right hand as an adversary,
And hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye:
In the tent of the daughter of Zion he hath poured out his wrath
like fire.
5The Lord is become as an enemy, he hath swallowed up
Israel;
He hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed his
strongholds;
And he hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and
lamentation.
6And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it
were of a garden; he hath destroyed his place of assembly:
Jehovah hath caused solemn assembly and sabbath to be forgotten
in Zion,
And hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and
the priest.
7The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his
sanctuary;
He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her
palaces:
They have made a noise in the house of Jehovah, as in the day of
a solemn assembly.
8Jehovah hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter
of Zion;
He hath stretched out the line, he hath not withdrawn his hand
from destroying;
And he hath made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish
together.
9Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and
broken her bars:
Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is
not;
Yea, her prophets find no vision from Jehovah.
10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground,
they keep silence;
They have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded
themselves with sackcloth:
The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11Mine eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled;
My liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of
the daughter of my people,
Because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the
streets of the city.
12They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine?
When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city,
When their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.
13What shall I testify unto thee? what shall I liken to
thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin
daughter of Zion?
For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
14Thy prophets have seen for thee false and foolish visions;
And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy
captivity,
But have seen for thee false oracles and causes of banishment.
15All that pass by clap their hands at thee;
They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem,
[saying],
Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The
joy of the whole earth?
16All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against
thee;
They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her
up;
Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we
have seen it.
17Jehovah hath done that which he purposed; he hath
fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old;
He hath thrown down, and hath not pitied:
And he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee; he hath
exalted the horn of thine adversaries.
18Their heart cried unto the Lord:
O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river
day and night;
Give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
19Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the
watches;
Pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord:
Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children,
that faint for hunger at the head of every street.
20See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou hast done thus!
Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled
in the hands?
Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of
the Lord?
21The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the
streets;
My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword:
Thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast
slaughtered, [and] not pitied.
22Thou hast called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my
terrors on every side;
And there was none that escaped or remained in the day of
Jehovah's anger:
Those that I have dandled and brought up hath mine enemy
consumed.
Chapter 3
1I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his
wrath.
2He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not
in light.
3Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all
the day.
4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my
bones.
5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and
travail.
6He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that
have been long dead.
7He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath
made my chain heavy.
8Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my
prayer.
9He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my
paths crooked.
10He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in
secret places.
11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he
hath made me desolate.
12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13He hath caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my
reins.
14I am become a derision to all my people, and their song
all the day.
15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with
wormwood.
16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath
covered me with ashes.
17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I
forgat prosperity.
18And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation
from Jehovah.
19Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and
the gall.
20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down
within me.
21This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.
22[It is of] Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not
consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
24Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I
hope in him.
25Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul
that seeketh him.
26It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for
the salvation of Jehovah.
27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid
it upon him.
29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be
hope.
30Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him
be filled full with reproach.
31For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion
according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
33For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the
children of men.
34To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the
Most High,
36To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the
Lord commandeth it not?
38Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil
and good?
39Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the
punishment of his sins?
40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.
41Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the
heavens.
42We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not
pardoned.
43Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast
slain, thou hast not pitied.
44Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer
can pass through.
45Thou hast made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst
of the peoples.
46All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and
destruction.
48Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the
destruction of the daughter of my people.
49Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any
intermission,
50Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.
51Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters
of my city.
52They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine
enemies without cause.
53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a
stone upon me.
54Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.
55I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest
dungeon.
56Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my
breathing, at my cry.
57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee;
thou saidst, Fear not.
58O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou
hast redeemed my life.
59O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.
60Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices
against me.
61Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their
devices against me,
62The lips of those that rose up against me, and their
device against me all the day.
63Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am
their song.
64Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah,
according to the work of their hands.
65Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto
them.
66Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from
under the heavens of Jehovah.
Chapter 4
1How is the gold become dim! [how] is the most pure gold
changed!
The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every
street.
2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold,
How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands
of the potter!
3Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to
their young ones:
The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in
the wilderness.
4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of
his mouth for thirst:
The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:
They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
6For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater
than the sin of Sodom,
That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid upon
her.
7Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than
milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as
of sapphire.
8Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in
the streets:
Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become
like a stick.
9They that are slain with the sword are better than they
that are slain with hunger;
For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of
the field.
10The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own
children;
They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my
people.
11Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out
his fierce anger;
And he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the
foundations thereof.
12The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the
inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of
Jerusalem.
13[It is] because of the sins of her prophets, [and] the
iniquities of her priests,
That have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.
14They wander as blind men in the streets, they are
polluted with blood,
So that men cannot touch their garments.
15Depart ye, they cried unto them, Unclean! depart, depart,
touch not!
When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations,
They shall no more sojourn [here].
16The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more
regard them:
They respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not
the elders.
17Our eyes do yet fail [in looking] for our vain help:
In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
18They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets:
Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens:
They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the
wilderness.
20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was
taken in their pits;
Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the
nations.
21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in
the land of Uz:
The cup shall pass through unto thee also; thou shalt be
drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
22The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O
daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into
captivity:
He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will
uncover thy sins.
Chapter 5
1Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us:
Behold, and see our reproach.
2Our inheritance is turned unto strangers,
Our houses unto aliens.
3We are orphans and fatherless;
Our mothers are as widows.
4We have drunken our water for money;
Our wood is sold unto us.
5Our pursuers are upon our necks:
We are weary, and have no rest.
6We have given the hand to the Egyptians,
And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7Our fathers sinned, and are not;
And we have borne their iniquities.
8Servants rule over us:
There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
9We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10Our skin is black like an oven,
Because of the burning heat of famine.
11They ravished the women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.
12Princes were hanged up by their hand:
The faces of elders were not honored.
13The young men bare the mill;
And the children stumbled under the wood.
14The elders have ceased from the gate,
The young men from their music.
15The joy of our heart is ceased;
Our dance is turned into mourning.
16The crown is fallen from our head:
Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
17For this our heart is faint;
For these things our eyes are dim;
18For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:
The foxes walk upon it.
19Thou, O Jehovah, abidest for ever;
Thy throne is from generation to generation.
20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever,
[And] forsake us so long time?
21Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned;
Renew our days as of old.
22But thou hast utterly rejected us;
Thou art very wroth against us.
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