Lamentations 1-2

English Standard Version

How Lonely Sits the City

1 ^(A)How lonely sits the city
    that was full of people!
How like ^(B)a widow has she become,
    she who was great among the nations!
She who was ^(C)a princess among the provinces
    has become ^(D)a slave.

²^(E)She weeps bitterly in the night,
    with tears on her cheeks;
^(F)among all her lovers
    she has ^(G)none to comfort her;
^(H)all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
    they have become her enemies.

³^(I)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction^[a]
    and hard servitude;
^(J)she dwells now among the nations,
    ^(K)but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
    in the midst of her distress.^[b]

⁴The roads to Zion mourn,
    for none come to ^(L)the festival;
^(M)all her gates are desolate;
    her priests ^(N)groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,^[c]
    and she herself suffers bitterly.

⁵^(O)Her foes have become the head;
    her ^(P)enemies prosper,
because ^(Q)the Lord has afflicted her
    ^(R)for the multitude of her transgressions;
^(S)her children have gone away,
    captives before the foe.

⁶From the daughter of Zion
    all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
    ^(T)that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
    before the pursuer.

⁷Jerusalem remembers
    in the days of her affliction and wandering
^(U)all the precious things
    that were hers from ^(V)days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
    and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
    they ^(W)mocked at her downfall.

⁸^(X)Jerusalem sinned grievously;
    therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
    ^(Y)for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^(Z)groans
    and turns her face away.

⁹Her uncleanness was ^(AA)in her skirts;
    ^(AB)she took no thought of her future;^[d]
therefore her fall is terrible;
    ^(AC)she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
    for the enemy has ^(AD)triumphed!”

¹⁰The enemy has stretched out his hands
    over all her ^(AE)precious things;
for she has seen ^(AF)the nations
    enter her sanctuary,
those whom you ^(AG)forbade
    to enter your congregation.

¹¹All her people ^(AH)groan
    as ^(AI)they search for bread;
they trade their ^(AJ)treasures for ^(AK)food
    to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
    for I am despised.”

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all ^(AL)you who pass by?
    ^(AM)Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
    which was brought upon me,
which ^(AN)the Lord inflicted
    on ^(AO)the day of his fierce anger.

¹³“From on high he ^(AP)sent fire;
    into my bones^[e] he made it descend;
^(AQ)he spread a net for my feet;
    he turned me back;
^(AR)he has left me stunned,
    faint all the day long.

¹⁴“My transgressions were bound^[f] into ^(AS)a yoke;
    by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
    he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
    of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁵“The Lord rejected
    all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
    to crush my young men;
^(AT)the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
    the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“For these things ^(AU)I weep;
    my eyes flow with tears;
for ^(AV)a comforter is far from me,
    one to ^(AW)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed.”

¹⁷^(AX)Zion stretches out her hands,
    but ^(AY)there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
    that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
    a filthy thing among them.

¹⁸^(AZ)“The Lord is in the right,
    ^(BA)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
    and see my suffering;
^(BB)my young women and my young men
    have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called to ^(BC)my lovers,
    but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
    perished in the city,
while ^(BD)they sought food
    to revive their strength.

²⁰“Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    ^(BE)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
    because I have been very rebellious.
^(BF)In the street the sword bereaves;
    in the house it is like death.

²¹“They heard^[g] ^(BG)my groaning,
    yet ^(BH)there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
    ^(BI)they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought^[h] the day you announced;
    ^(BJ)now let them be as I am.

²²^(BK)“Let all their evildoing come before you,
    and deal with them
as ^(BL)you have dealt with me
    because of all my transgressions;
for ^(BM)my groans are many,
    and ^(BN)my heart is faint.”

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

2 How the Lord in his anger
    has set the daughter of Zion ^(BO)under a cloud!
^(BP)He has cast down from heaven to earth
    the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered ^(BQ)his footstool
    in the day of his anger.

²The Lord ^(BR)has swallowed up ^(BS)without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^(BT)he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^(BU)down to the ground ^(BV)in dishonor
    the kingdom ^(BW)and its rulers.

³He has cut down in ^(BX)fierce anger
    all ^(BY)the might of Israel;
^(BZ)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
    in the face of the enemy;
^(CA)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
    consuming all around.

⁴^(CB)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set ^(CC)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

⁵^(CD)The Lord has become like an enemy;
    ^(CE)he has swallowed up Israel;
^(CF)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    ^(CG)mourning and lamentation.

⁶He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins ^(CH)his meeting place;
^(CI)the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and ^(CJ)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

⁷^(CK)The Lord has scorned his altar,
    ^(CL)disowned his sanctuary;
^(CM)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
    the walls of her palaces;
^(CN)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of festival.

⁸^(CO)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
    ^(CP)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
^(CQ)he stretched out the measuring line;
    he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^(CR)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
    ^(CS)they languished together.

⁹Her gates have sunk into the ground;
    ^(CT)he has ruined ^(CU)and broken her bars;
^(CV)her king and princes are among the nations;
    the law is no more,
and ^(CW)her prophets find
    no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion
    ^(CX)sit on the ground ^(CY)in silence;
^(CZ)they have thrown dust on their heads
    and ^(DA)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.

¹¹^(DB)My eyes are spent with weeping;
    ^(DC)my stomach churns;
^(DD)my bile is poured out to the ground
    ^(DE)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^(DF)because infants and babies ^(DG)faint
    in the streets of the city.

¹²They cry to their mothers,
    ^(DH)“Where is bread and wine?”
^(DI)as they faint like a wounded man
    in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
    on their mothers' bosom.

¹³What can I say for you, ^(DJ)to what compare you,
    O daughter of Jerusalem?
^(DK)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
    O virgin daughter of Zion?
^(DL)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
    who can heal you?

¹⁴^(DM)Your prophets have seen for you
    false and deceptive visions;
^(DN)they have not exposed your iniquity
    to ^(DO)restore your fortunes,
^(DP)but have seen for you ^(DQ)oracles
    that are false and misleading.

¹⁵All who pass along the way
    clap their hands at you;
^(DR)they hiss and wag their heads
    at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
    ^(DS)the perfection of beauty,
    ^(DT)the joy of all the earth?”

¹⁶^(DU)All your enemies
    rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
    they cry: “We ^(DV)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
    now we have it; ^(DW)we see it!”

¹⁷The Lord has done what he purposed;
    he has carried out ^(DX)his word,
which he commanded ^(DY)long ago;
    ^(DZ)he has thrown down ^(EA)without pity;
^(EB)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
    and exalted the ^(EC)might of your foes.

¹⁸Their heart cried to the Lord.
    O ^(ED)wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(EE)let tears stream down like a torrent
    ^(EF)day and night!
^(EG)Give yourself no rest,
    ^(EH)your eyes no respite!

¹⁹“Arise, ^(EI)cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
^(EJ)Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord!
^(EK)Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
^(EL)who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.”

²⁰Look, O Lord, and see!
    ^(EM)With whom have you dealt thus?
^(EN)Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
    the children of ^(EO)their tender care?
Should ^(EP)priest and prophet be killed
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹In the dust of the streets
    ^(EQ)lie the young and the old;
^(ER)my young women and my young men
    have fallen by the sword;
^(ES)you have killed them in the day of your anger,
    slaughtering ^(ET)without pity.

²²You summoned as if to ^(EU)a festival day
    ^(EV)my terrors on every side,
^(EW)and on the day of the anger of the Lord
    no one escaped or survived;
^(EX)those whom I held and raised
    my enemy destroyed.

Footnotes

Lamentations 1:3 Or under affliction
Lamentations 1:3 Or in the narrow passes
Lamentations 1:4 Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away
Lamentations 1:9 Or end
Lamentations 1:13 Septuagint; Hebrew bones and
Lamentations 1:14 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Lamentations 1:21 Septuagint, Syriac Hear
Lamentations 1:21 Syriac Bring

John 6:22-44

English Standard Version

I Am the Bread of Life

²²On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only ^(A)one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord ^(B)had given thanks. ²⁴^(C)So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and ^(D)went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ^(E)“Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(F)you are seeking me, not because you saw ^(G)signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷^(H)Do not work for the food that perishes, but for ^(I)the food that endures to eternal life, which ^(J)the Son of Man will give to you. For on ^(K)him God the Father has ^(L)set his seal.” ²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing ^(M)the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, ^(N)that you believe in him whom ^(O)he has sent.” ³⁰So they said to him, ^(P)“Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹^(Q)Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ^(R)‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is ^(S)he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to him, ^(T)“Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, ^(U)“I am the bread of life; ^(V)whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷^(W)All that ^(X)the Father gives me will come to me, and ^(Y)whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸For ^(Z)I have come down from heaven, not to do ^(AA)my own will but ^(AB)the will of him ^(AC)who sent me. ³⁹And ^(AD)this is the will of him who sent me, ^(AE)that I should lose nothing of ^(AF)all that he has given me, but ^(AG)raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who ^(AH)looks on the Son and ^(AI)believes in him ^(AJ)should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, ^(AK)“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They said, ^(AL)“Is not this Jesus, ^(AM)the son of Joseph, whose father and mother ^(AN)we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me ^(AO)draws him. And ^(AP)I will raise him up on the last day.