Lamentations

___Lamentations chapter 1 1 How the city sits solitary that was full of people! How she has become like a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how she has become tributary! 2 She weeps severely in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks, among all her lovers, she has no one to comfort her, all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they've become her enemies. 3 Judah has gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude, she lives among the heathen, she finds no rest, all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. 4 The ways of Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn feasts, all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. 5 Her adversaries are on top, her enemies prosper, for the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions, her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. 6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty has departed, her princes have become like deer that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. 7 Jerusalem remembered all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, in the days of her affliction and of her miseries, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and no one helped her, the adversaries saw her and mocked at her Sabbaths. 8 Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she's been removed, all that honored her despise her, because they've seen her nakedness, yes, she sighs, and turns backward. 9 Her filthiness is in her skirts, she doesn't remember her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully, she had no comforter. O Lord, see my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself. 10 The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things, for she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom you commanded not to enter into your congregation. 11 All her people sigh, they seek for bread, they've given their pleasant things for food to relieve the soul, see O Lord, and consider, for I've become filthy. 12 Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Look and see if there's any sorrow like my sorrow that has been done to me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. 13 He's sent fire from above into my bones, and it prevails against them, he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back, he has made me desolate and faint all day long. 14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand, they're wreathed, and come up on my neck, he's made my strength to fall, the Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I'm not able to rise up. 15 The Lord has trampled under foot all my mighty men that were among me, he has called an assembly against me to crush my young men, the Lord trampled the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as if in a winepress. 16 I weep for these things, my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter that ought to relieve my soul is far from me, my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed. 17 Zion spreads out her hands, and there is no one to comfort her, the Lord has commanded concerning Jacob that those around him should be his adversaries, Jerusalem is like a menstruous woman among them. 18 The Lord is righteous, for I've rebelled against his commandment, hear please, all people, and see my sorrow, my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. 19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me, my priests and my elders died in the city, while they sought their food to relieve their souls. 20 See, O Lord, for I'm in distress, my bowels are troubled, my heart has turned inside me, for I've grievously rebelled, the sword bereaves abroad, at home there is like death. 21 They've heard that I sigh, there's no one to comfort me, all my enemies have heard of my trouble, they're glad that you've done it, you'll bring the day that you've called for, and they'll be like me. 22 Let all their wickedness come before you, and do to them like you've done to me for all my transgressions, for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

___Lamentations chapter 2 1 How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and thrown down from heaven to the ground the beauty of Israel, and not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger! 2 The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hasn't pitied, in his anger, he has thrown down the strong holds of the daughter of Judah, he has brought them down to the ground, he has polluted the kingdom and the princes of it. 3 He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel, he has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire that devours all around. 4 He has bent his bow like an enemy, he stood with his right hand like an adversary, and killed all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion, he poured out his fury like fire. 5 The Lord was like an enemy, he has swallowed up Israel, he has swallowed up all her palaces, he has destroyed his strong holds, and has increased mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah. 6 And he has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were for a garden, he has destroyed his places of the assembly, the Lord has caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and in the indignation of his anger has despised the king and the priest. 7 The Lord has thrown away his altar, he has hated his sanctuary, he has surrendered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy, they've made a noise in the house of the Lord, like in the day of a solemn feast. 8 The Lord has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, he has stretched out a line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying, therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament, they languished together. 9 Her gates have sunk into the ground, he has destroyed and broken the bars of her gates, her king and her princes are among the Gentiles, there's no more law, her prophets also find no vision from the Lord. 10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, and keep silence, they've thrown up dust on their heads, they've girded themselves with sackcloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. 11 My eyes fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver has been poured on the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. 12 They say to their mothers, "Where's corn and wine?" When they fainted like the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom. 13 What thing shall I take to witness for you? What thing shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to you, so I can comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea, who can heal you? 14 Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you, and they haven't discovered your sin, to turn away your captivity, but have seen false burdens and causes of banishment for you. 15 All that pass by clap their hands at you, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, "Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?" 16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you, they hiss and gnash the teeth, they say, "We've swallowed her up, certainly this is the day that we looked for, we have found, we have seen it." 17 The Lord has done what he had devised, he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old, he has thrown down, and has not pitied, and he has caused your enemy to rejoice over you, he has set up the horn of your adversaries. 18 Their heart shouted to the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night, give yourself no rest, don't let the apple of your eye stop. 19 Get up, cry out in the night, in the beginning of the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord, lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children that faint for hunger at the top of every street. 20 See, O Lord, and consider to whom you've done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets, my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword, you've killed them in the day of your anger, you've killed, and haven't pitied. 22 You've called my terrors all around like on a solemn day, so that on the day of the Lord's anger, no one escaped nor remained, those that I've swaddled and brought up, my enemy has consumed.

___Lamentations chapter 3 1 I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his anger. 2 He has led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. 3 Surely he has turned against me, he turns his hand against me all day long. 4 He has made my flesh and my skin old, he has broken my bones. 5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with gall and travail. 6 He has set me in dark places, like those who are long dead. 7 He has hedged me in so that I can't get out, he has made my chain heavy. 8 Also when I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer. 9 He has enclosed my ways with cut stone, he has made my paths crooked. 10 He was to me like a bear lying in ambush, and like a lion in secret places. 11 He has turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces, he has made me desolate. 12 He has bent his bow, and set me like a target for arrows. 13 He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. 14 I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day. 15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunken with wormwood. 16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he has covered me with ashes. 17 And you've removed my soul far off from peace, I've forgotten prosperity. 18 And I said, my strength and my hope has perished from the Lord, 19 Remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul still remembers them, and is humbled in me. 21 I recall this to mind, therefore have I hope. 22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions don't fail. 23 They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. 24 The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. 28 He sits alone and keeps silence, because he has carried it on himself. 29 He puts his mouth in the dust, if there might be hope. 30 He gives his cheek to him that strikes him, he is filled full with reproach. 31 For the Lord won't throw off forever, 32 But though he causes grief, yet he'll have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. 33 For he doesn't afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. 34 To crush all the prisoners of the earth under his feet, 35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most high, 36 The Lord doesn't approve subverting a man in his cause. 37 Who is he that speaks and then it happens, if the Lord doesn't command it? 38 Doesn't evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the most high? 39 Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? 40 Let us search and test our ways, and turn again to the Lord. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. 42 We've transgressed and have rebelled, you haven't pardoned. 43 You've covered us with anger, and persecuted us, you've killed, you haven't pitied. 44 You've covered yourself with a cloud, so that our prayer won't pass through. 45 You've made us like the off-scouring and refuse among the people. 46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. 47 Fear and a trap has come on us, desolation and destruction. 48 My eye runs down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 My eye trickles down, and doesn't stop, without any intermission, 50 'Til the Lord looks down, and sees from heaven. 51 My eye affects my heart because of all the daughters of my city. 52 My enemies hunted me down like a bird, without a reason. 53 They've cut off my life in the dungeon, and thrown stones at me. 54 Waters flowed over my head, then I said, "I'm cut off." 55 I called on your name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. 56 You've heard my voice, don't hide your ear at my breathing, at my cry. 57 You came near on the day that I called on you, you said don't be afraid. 58 O Lord, you've pleaded the causes of my soul, you've redeemed my life. 59 O Lord, you've seen my wrong, judge my cause. 60 You've seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. 61 You've heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me, 62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. 63 See their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their music. 64 Give them a repayment, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. 65 Give them sorrow of heart, your curse to them. 66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.

___Lamentations chapter 4 1 How has the gold become dim! How has the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary have been poured out at the top of every street. 2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how have they become esteemed like clay pitchers, 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 has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4 The tongue of the sucking child sticks to the roof of his mouth for thirst, the young children ask for bread, and no man breaks it to them. 5 Those who ate delicately are desolate in the streets, those who were brought up in red cloth embrace manure piles. 6 For the punishment of the sin of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown in a moment, and no hands stayed on her. 7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire, 8 Their face is blacker than a coal, they're not known in the streets, their skin sticks to their bones, it is withered, it has become like a stick. 9 Those who are killed by the sword are better than those who are killed by hunger, for these pine away, stricken through for lack of the fruits of the field. 10 The hands of the pitiful women have marinated their own children, they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11 The Lord has accomplished his fury, he has poured out his fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured the foundations of it. 12 The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world wouldn't have believed that the adversary and the enemy would have entered into the gates of Jerusalem. 13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the righteous among her, 14 They've wandered like blind men in the streets, they've polluted themselves with blood, so that men couldn't touch their garments. 15 They shouted to them, "Depart, it is unclean, depart, depart, don't touch," when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, "They shall visit there no more." 16 The anger of the Lord has divided them, he will no longer regard them, they didn't respect the persons of the priests, they didn't favor the elders. 17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our nonexistent help, in our watching, we've looked for a nation that couldn't save us. 18 They hunt our steps, so that we can't go into our streets, our end is near, our days have been fulfilled, for our end has come. 19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven, they pursued us on the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. 20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among the heathen. 21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who lives in the land of Uz, the cup also shall pass through to you, you shall be drunken and shall make yourself naked. 22 The punishment of your iniquity has been accomplished, O daughter of Zion, he will no more carry you away into captivity, he will visit your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will discover your sins.

___Lamentations chapter 5 1 Remember O Lord, what has come on us, consider, and see our reproach. 2 Our inheritance has gone to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are like widows. 4 We've drunken our water for money, we have to pay for our wood. 5 Our necks are under persecution, we labor and have no rest. 6 We've given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are no more, and we've carried their sins. 8 Servants have ruled over us, there is no one that delivers us out of their hand. 9 We got our bread by endangering our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. 11 They raped the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hung up by their hand, the faces of elders were not honored. 13 They took the young men to do grinding, and the children fell under the wood. 14 The elders have stopped from the gate, the young men from their music. 15 The joy of our heart has stopped, our dance has turned into mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head, woe to us, that we have sinned! 17 Because of this our heart is faint, our eyes are dim for these things. 18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk on it. 19 You, O Lord, remain forever, your throne from generation to generation. 20 So do you forget us forever, and forsake us such a long time? 21 Turn us toward you, O Lord, and we shall be turned, renew our days like in old times. 22 But you've completely rejected us, you're very angry against us.

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