[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)

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

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.

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Jerusalem has sinned(A) greatly
    and so has become unclean.(B)
All who honored her despise her,
    for they have all seen her naked;(C)
she herself groans(D)
    and turns away.

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

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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.

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14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke[a];(A)
    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(B)
    of those I cannot withstand.

15 “The Lord has rejected
    all the warriors in my midst;(C)
he has summoned an army(D) against me
    to[b] crush my young men.(E)
In his winepress(F) the Lord has trampled(G)
    Virgin Daughter(H) Judah.

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

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins
  2. Lamentations 1:15 Or has set a time for me / when he will

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.

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22 Because of the Lord’s great love(A) we are not consumed,(B)
    for his compassions never fail.(C)
23 They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.(D)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(E)
    therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;(F)
26 it is good to wait quietly(G)
    for the salvation of the Lord.(H)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
    while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence,(I)
    for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(J)
    there may yet be hope.(K)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(L)
    and let him be filled with disgrace.(M)

31 For no one is cast off
    by the Lord forever.(N)
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
    so great is his unfailing love.(O)
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
    or grief to anyone.(P)

34 To crush underfoot
    all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
    before the Most High,(Q)
36 to deprive them of justice—
    would not the Lord see such things?(R)

37 Who can speak and have it happen
    if the Lord has not decreed it?(S)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
    that both calamities and good things come?(T)
39 Why should the living complain
    when punished for their sins?(U)

40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(V)
    and let us return to the Lord.(W)

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22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh 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 that he bear the yoke in his youth.

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

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

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

31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:

32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.

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

36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.

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

38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?

39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

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

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