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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

[a]How deserted(A) lies the city,
    once so full of people!(B)
How like a widow(C) is she,
    who once was great(D) among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
    has now become a slave.(E)

Bitterly she weeps(F) at night,
    tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers(G)
    there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed(H) her;
    they have become her enemies.(I)

After affliction and harsh labor,
    Judah has gone into exile.(J)
She dwells among the nations;
    she finds no resting place.(K)
All who pursue her have overtaken her(L)
    in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn,(M)
    for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,(N)
    her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
    and she is in bitter anguish.(O)

Her foes have become her masters;
    her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief(P)
    because of her many sins.(Q)
Her children have gone into exile,(R)
    captive before the foe.(S)

All the splendor has departed
    from Daughter Zion.(T)
Her princes are like deer
    that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled(U)
    before the pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and wandering
    Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
    that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
    there was no one to help her.(V)
Her enemies looked at her
    and laughed(W) at her destruction.

Jerusalem has sinned(X) greatly
    and so has become unclean.(Y)
All who honored her despise her,
    for they have all seen her naked;(Z)
she herself groans(AA)
    and turns away.

Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
    she did not consider her future.(AB)
Her fall(AC) was astounding;
    there was none to comfort(AD) her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,(AE)
    for the enemy has triumphed.”

10 The enemy laid hands
    on all her treasures;(AF)
she saw pagan nations
    enter her sanctuary(AG)
those you had forbidden(AH)
    to enter your assembly.

11 All her people groan(AI)
    as they search for bread;(AJ)
they barter their treasures for food
    to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
    for I am despised.”

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?(AK)
    Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering(AL)
    that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
    in the day of his fierce anger?(AM)

13 “From on high he sent fire,
    sent it down into my bones.(AN)
He spread a net(AO) for my feet
    and turned me back.
He made me desolate,(AP)
    faint(AQ) all the day long.

14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke[b];(AR)
    by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
    and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands(AS)
    of those I cannot withstand.

15 “The Lord has rejected
    all the warriors in my midst;(AT)
he has summoned an army(AU) against me
    to[c] crush my young men.(AV)
In his winepress(AW) the Lord has trampled(AX)
    Virgin Daughter(AY) Judah.

16 “This is why I weep
    and my eyes overflow with tears.(AZ)
No one is near to comfort(BA) me,
    no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
    because the enemy has prevailed.”(BB)

17 Zion stretches out her hands,(BC)
    but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has decreed for Jacob
    that his neighbors become his foes;(BD)
Jerusalem has become
    an unclean(BE) thing(BF) among them.

18 “The Lord is righteous,(BG)
    yet I rebelled(BH) against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
    look on my suffering.(BI)
My young men and young women
    have gone into exile.(BJ)

19 “I called to my allies(BK)
    but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
    perished(BL) in the city
while they searched for food
    to keep themselves alive.

20 “See, Lord, how distressed(BM) I am!
    I am in torment(BN) within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,(BO)
    for I have been most rebellious.(BP)
Outside, the sword bereaves;
    inside, there is only death.(BQ)

21 “People have heard my groaning,(BR)
    but there is no one to comfort me.(BS)
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
    they rejoice(BT) at what you have done.
May you bring the day(BU) you have announced
    so they may become like me.

22 “Let all their wickedness come before you;
    deal with them
as you have dealt with me
    because of all my sins.(BV)
My groans(BW) are many
    and my heart is faint.”

[d]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
    with the cloud of his anger[e]!(BX)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
    from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool(BY)
    in the day of his anger.(BZ)

Without pity(CA) the Lord has swallowed(CB) up
    all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
    the strongholds(CC) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
    down to the ground(CD) in dishonor.

In fierce anger he has cut off
    every horn[f][g](CE) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand(CF)
    at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
    that consumes everything around it.(CG)

Like an enemy he has strung his bow;(CH)
    his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
    all who were pleasing to the eye;(CI)
he has poured out his wrath(CJ) like fire(CK)
    on the tent(CL) of Daughter Zion.

The Lord is like an enemy;(CM)
    he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
    and destroyed her strongholds.(CN)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(CO)
    for Daughter Judah.(CP)

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed(CQ) his place of meeting.(CR)
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(CS)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.(CT)

The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.(CU)
He has given the walls of her palaces(CV)
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.(CW)

The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.(CX)
He stretched out a measuring line(CY)
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(CZ) and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.(DA)

Her gates(DB) have sunk into the ground;
    their bars(DC) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(DD) among the nations,
    the law(DE) is no more,
and her prophets(DF) no longer find
    visions(DG) from the Lord.

10 The elders of Daughter Zion
    sit on the ground in silence;(DH)
they have sprinkled dust(DI) on their heads(DJ)
    and put on sackcloth.(DK)
The young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.(DL)

11 My eyes fail from weeping,(DM)
    I am in torment within(DN);
my heart(DO) is poured out(DP) on the ground
    because my people are destroyed,(DQ)
because children and infants faint(DR)
    in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers,
    “Where is bread and wine?”(DS)
as they faint like the wounded
    in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away(DT)
    in their mothers’ arms.(DU)

13 What can I say for you?(DV)
    With what can I compare you,
    Daughter(DW) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
    that I may comfort you,
    Virgin Daughter Zion?(DX)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(DY)
    Who can heal you?

14 The visions of your prophets
    were false(DZ) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
    to ward off your captivity.(EA)
The prophecies they gave you
    were false and misleading.(EB)

15 All who pass your way
    clap their hands at you;(EC)
they scoff(ED) and shake their heads(EE)
    at Daughter Jerusalem:(EF)
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,(EG)
    the joy of the whole earth?”(EH)

16 All your enemies open their mouths
    wide against you;(EI)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(EJ)
    and say, “We have swallowed her up.(EK)
This is the day we have waited for;
    we have lived to see it.”(EL)

17 The Lord has done what he planned;
    he has fulfilled(EM) his word,
    which he decreed long ago.(EN)
He has overthrown you without pity,(EO)
    he has let the enemy gloat over you,(EP)
    he has exalted the horn[h] of your foes.(EQ)

18 The hearts of the people
    cry out to the Lord.(ER)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(ES)
    let your tears(ET) flow like a river
    day and night;(EU)
give yourself no relief,
    your eyes no rest.(EV)

19 Arise, cry out in the night,
    as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(EW) like water
    in the presence of the Lord.(EX)
Lift up your hands(EY) to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint(EZ) from hunger
    at every street corner.

20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(FA)
    the children they have cared for?(FB)
Should priest and prophet be killed(FC)
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?(FD)

21 “Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.(FE)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.(FF)

22 “As you summon to a feast day,
    so you summoned against me terrors(FG) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
    no one escaped(FH) or survived;
those I cared for and reared(FI)
    my enemy has destroyed.”

Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
  2. Lamentations 1:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins
  3. Lamentations 1:15 Or has set a time for me / when he will
  4. Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
  5. Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt
  6. Lamentations 2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king
  7. Lamentations 2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength.
  8. Lamentations 2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength.

22 The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone;

23 (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:)

24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?

26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

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22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake(A) realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone.(B) 23 Then some boats from Tiberias(C) landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.(D) 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

Jesus the Bread of Life

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi,(E) when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me,(F) not because you saw the signs(G) I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures(H) to eternal life,(I) which the Son of Man(J) will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal(K) of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe(L) in the one he has sent.”(M)

30 So they asked him, “What sign(N) then will you give that we may see it and believe you?(O) What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna(P) in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[a](Q)

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven(R) and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”(S)

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am(T) the bread of life.(U) Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes(V) in me will never be thirsty.(W) 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me(X) will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven(Y) not to do my will but to do the will(Z) of him who sent me.(AA) 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me,(AB) but raise them up at the last day.(AC) 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son(AD) and believes in him shall have eternal life,(AE) and I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph,(AF) whose father and mother we know?(AG) How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”(AH)

43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,(AI) and I will raise them up at the last day.

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Footnotes

  1. John 6:31 Exodus 16:4; Neh. 9:15; Psalm 78:24,25