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Chapters of Lamentations: 1
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1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of
people! how is she become as a widow! she that
was
great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how
is she
become tributary!
1:2 She 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.
1:3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because
of great
servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth
no rest: all her
persecutors overtook her between the straits.
1:4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn
feasts:
all
her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are
afflicted, and
she is in bitterness.
1:5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD
hath
afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:
her children are
gone into captivity before the enemy.
1:6 And 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 the pursuer.
1:7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her
miseries
all her pleasant things that she had in 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 her sabbaths.
1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed:
all that
honoured her despise her, because they have seen her
nakedness:
yea, she
sigheth, and turneth backward.
1:9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her
last
end;
therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no
comforter.
O LORD, behold
my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
1:10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant
things:
for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her
sanctuary,
whom thou
didst command that they should not enter into thy
congregation.
1:11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their
pleasant
things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and
consider;
for I am
become vile.
1:12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold,
and
see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me,
wherewith
the
LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
1:13 From above 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.
1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they
are wreathed,
and come up upon 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.
1:15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the
midst
of
me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young
men: the Lord
hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a
winepress.
1:16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down
with
water,
because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from
me: my
children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
1:17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to
comfort
her:
the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his
adversaries should
be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman
among them.
1:18 The 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.
1:19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my
priests
and mine
elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their
meat to
relieve their souls.
1:20 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are
troubled;
mine
heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled:
abroad the
sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
1:21 They 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 called, and they
shall
be like
unto me.
1:22 Let 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.
Lamentations | Top
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2:1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in
his
anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the
beauty
of Israel, and
remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
2:2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath
not
pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds
of the daughter
of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground:
he
hath polluted the
kingdom and the princes thereof.
2:3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of
Israel:
he hath
drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned
against
Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
2:4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right
hand as an
adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in
the
tabernacle
of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
2:5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he
hath
swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong
holds, and hath
increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
2:6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were
of a
garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly:
the LORD hath
caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion,
and hath
despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
2:7 The 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 the LORD, as in the day of
a solemn
feast.
2:8 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of
Zion:
he
hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from
destroying:
therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they
languished
together.
2:9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken
her
bars: her king and her princes are among the
Gentiles:
the law is no
more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
2:10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and
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.
2:11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver
is
poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of
my people;
because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of
the city.
2:12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine?
when
they swooned
as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was
poured out
into their mothers' bosom.
2:13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing
shall I liken
to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to
thee, that I may
comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is
great like
the sea: who can heal thee?
2:14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee:
and they have
not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but
have seen
for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.
2:15 All 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
call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
2:16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth 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.
2:17 The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath
fulfilled
his
word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath
thrown down, and
hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to
rejoice
over thee, he
hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
2:18 Their 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 rest; let not
the apple of thine eye cease.
2:19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches
pour out
thine 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 in the
top of every street.
2:20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this.
Shall the
women eat their fruit, and children of a span long?
shall
the priest and
the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
2:21 The young and the old 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 killed, and not pitied.
2:22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so
that in
the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained:
those that I have
swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
Lamentations | Top
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3:1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod
of his wrath.
3:2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into
light.
3:3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me
all the
day.
3:4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old: he hath broken my
bones.
3:5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and
travail.
3:6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
3:7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made
my chain
heavy.
3:8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
3:9 He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths
crooked.
3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as
a lion in
secret
places.
3:11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he
hath made me
desolate.
3:12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
3:13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
3:14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the
day.
3:15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with
wormwood.
3:16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered
me
with ashes.
3:17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat
prosperity.
3:18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
3:19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the
gall.
3:20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in
me.
3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
3:22 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,
because
his
compassions fail not.
3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy
faithfulness.
3:24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I
hope
in him.
3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that
seeketh him.
3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly
wait for
the
salvation of the LORD.
3:27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
3:28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it
upon
him.
3:29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
3:30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is
filled
full with
reproach.
3:31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
3:32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according
to the
multitude of his mercies.
3:33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
3:34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
3:35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
3:36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
3:37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when
the Lord
commandeth it not?
3:38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
3:39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment
of his
sins?
3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
3:41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the
heavens.
3:42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not
pardoned.
3:43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast
slain, thou
hast not pitied.
3:44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer
should
not
pass through.
3:45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the
midst
of the
people.
3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
3:47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
3:48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction
of the
daughter of my people.
3:49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any
intermission,
3:50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
3:51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of
my city.
3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
3:53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon
me.
3:54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
3:55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
3:56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my
breathing,
at my
cry.
3:57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon
thee:
thou saidst,
Fear not.
3:58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast
redeemed
my
life.
3:59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
3:60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their
imaginations
against
me.
3:61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their
imaginations
against me;
3:62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device
against
me
all the day.
3:63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their
music.
3:64 Render unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of
their
hands.
3:65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
3:66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of
the LORD.
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4:1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold
changed!
the
stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every
street.
4:2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they
esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the
potter!
4:3 Even the sea monsters 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.
4:4 The 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.
4:5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:
they that
were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
4:6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
is
greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was
overthrown
as in
a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
4:7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk,
they
were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was
of
sapphire:
4:8 Their 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.
4:9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they
that
be slain
with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want
of the
fruits of the field.
4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own
children:
they
were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
4:11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce
anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured
the
foundations thereof.
4:12 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.
4:13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her
priests,
that
have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
4:14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets,
they have
polluted
themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their
garments.
4:15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart,
depart,
touch
not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among
the heathen, They
shall no more sojourn there.
4:16 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard
them:
they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured
not the
elders.
4:17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in
our watching
we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
4:18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our
end is
near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
4:19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven:
they
pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the
wilderness.
4:20 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.
4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the
land of
Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt
be drunken, and
shalt make thyself naked.
4:22 The 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 discover thy sins.
Lamentations | Top
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5:1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold
our
reproach.
5:2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
5:3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
5:4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
5:5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and
have
no rest.
5:6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the
Assyrians,
to be
satisfied with bread.
5:7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne
their
iniquities.
5:8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth
deliver us out
of their hand.
5:9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the
sword
of
the wilderness.
5:10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
5:11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the
cities
of
Judah.
5:12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders
were not
honoured.
5:13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under
the wood.
5:14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their
music.
5:15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
5:16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that
we
have sinned!
5:17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are
dim.
5:18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes
walk upon
it.
5:19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to
generation.
5:20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so
long
time?
5:21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew
our days
as of old.
5:22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against
us.
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