Lamentations 1-5
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
The Deserted City
1 How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the cities
has become a vassal.
2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,
they have become her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
she dwells now among the nations,
but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to the appointed feasts;
all her gates are desolate,
her priests groan;
her maidens have been dragged away,[a]
and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 Her foes have become the head,
her enemies prosper,
because the Lord has made her suffer
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
6 From the daughter of Zion has departed
all her majesty.
Her princes have become like harts
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and bitterness[b]
all the precious things
that were hers from days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
the foe gloated over her,
mocking at her downfall.
8 Jerusalem sinned grievously,
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
yea, she herself groans,
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her doom;
therefore her fall is terrible,
she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!”
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her precious things;
yea, she has seen the nations
invade her sanctuary,
those whom thou didst forbid
to enter thy congregation.
11 All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and behold,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you,[c] all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow
which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.
13 “From on high he sent fire;
into my bones[d] he made it descend;
he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
14 “My transgressions were bound[e] into 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 flouted all my mighty men
in the midst of me;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
the Lord has trodden as in a wine press
the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
one to revive my courage;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion stretches out her hands,
but 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 “The Lord is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and behold my suffering;
my maidens and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 “I called to my lovers
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while they sought food
to revive their strength.
20 “Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress,
my soul is in tumult,
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
21 “Hear[f] how I groan;
there is none to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
they are glad that thou hast done it.
Bring thou[g] the day thou hast announced,
and let them be as I am.
22 “Let all their evil-doing come before thee;
and deal with them
as thou hast dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for my groans are many
and my heart is faint.”
God’s Warnings Fulfilled
2 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord has destroyed without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.
3 He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has slain all the pride of our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy,
he has destroyed Israel;
he has destroyed all its palaces,
laid in ruins its strongholds;
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation.
6 He has broken down his booth like that of a garden,
laid in ruins the place of his appointed feasts;
the Lord has brought to an end in Zion
appointed feast and sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned
king and priest.
7 The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
a clamor was raised in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of the daughter of Zion;
he marked it off by the line;
he restrained not his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament,
they languish together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and her prophets obtain
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have cast dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the maidens of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
my soul is in tumult;
my heart is poured out in grief[h]
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babes faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like wounded men
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For vast as the sea is your ruin;
who can restore you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem;
“Is this the city which was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”
16 All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have destroyed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed,
has carried out his threat;
as he ordained long ago,
he has demolished without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you,
and exalted the might of your foes.
18 Cry aloud[i] to the Lord!
O[j] daughter of Zion!
Let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
With whom hast thou dealt thus?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be slain
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
lie the young and the old;
my maidens and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
in the day of thy anger thou hast slain them,
slaughtering without mercy.
22 Thou didst invite as to the day of an appointed feast
my terrors on every side;
and on the day of the anger of the Lord
none escaped or survived;
those whom I dandled and reared
my enemy destroyed.
God’s Steadfast Love Endures
3 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,
and broken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6 he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;
8 though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding;
11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
12 he bent his bow and set me
as a mark for his arrow.
13 He drove into my heart
the arrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
the burden of their songs all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
he has sated me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace,
I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 so I say, “Gone is my glory,
and my expectation from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and my bitterness,[k]
the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,[l]
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is thy 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 one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when he has laid it on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30 let him give his cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not
cast off for ever,
32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve the sons of men.
34 To crush under foot
all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to turn aside the right of a man
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his cause,
the Lord does not approve.
37 Who has commanded and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has ordained it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and evil come?
39 Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord!
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
42 “We have transgressed and rebelled,
and thou hast not forgiven.
43 “Thou hast wrapped thyself with anger and pursued us,
slaying without pity;
44 thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 Thou hast made us offscouring and refuse
among the peoples.
46 “All our enemies
rail against us;
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction;
48 my eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 “My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees;
51 my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the maidens of my city.
52 “I have been hunted like a bird
by those who were my enemies without cause;
53 they flung me alive into the pit
and cast stones on me;
54 water closed over my head;
I said, ‘I am lost.’
55 “I called on thy name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56 thou didst hear my plea, ‘Do not close
thine ear to my cry for help!’[m]
57 Thou didst come near when I called on thee;
thou didst say, ‘Do not fear!’
58 “Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord,
thou hast redeemed my life.
59 Thou hast seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
61 “Thou hast heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their devices against me.
62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants
are against me all the day long.
63 Behold their sitting and their rising;
I am the burden of their songs.
64 “Thou wilt requite them, O Lord,
according to the work of their hands.
65 Thou wilt give them dullness of heart;
thy curse will be on them.
66 Thou wilt pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under thy heavens, O Lord.”[n]
The Punishment of Zion
4 How the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
at the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion,
worth their weight in fine gold,
how they are reckoned as earthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even the jackals give the breast
and suckle their young,
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the nursling cleaves
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
the children beg for food,
but no one gives to them.
5 Those who feasted on dainties
perish in the streets;
those who were brought up in purple
lie on ash heaps.
6 For the chastisement[o] of the daughter of my people has been greater
than the punishment[p] of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment,
no hand being laid on it.[q]
7 Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
the beauty of their form[r] was like sapphire.[s]
8 Now their visage is blacker than soot,
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled upon their bones,
it has become as dry as wood.
9 Happier were the victims of the sword
than the victims of hunger,
who pined away, stricken
by want of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of compassionate women
have boiled their own children;
they became their food
in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord gave full vent to his wrath,
he poured out his hot anger;
and he kindled a fire in Zion,
which consumed its foundations.
12 The kings of the earth did not believe,
or any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.
13 This was for the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
the blood of the righteous.
14 They wandered, blind, through the streets,
so defiled with blood
that none could touch
their garments.
15 “Away! Unclean!” men cried at them;
“Away! Away! Touch not!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
men said among the nations,
“They shall stay with us no longer.”
16 The Lord himself has scattered them,
he will regard them no more;
no honor was shown to the priests,
no favor to the elders.
17 Our eyes failed, ever watching
vainly for help;
in our watching[t] we watched
for a nation which could not save.
18 Men dogged our steps
so that we could not walk in our streets;
our end drew near; our days were numbered;
for our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter
than the vultures in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains,
they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed,
was taken in their pits,
he of whom we said, “Under his shadow
we shall live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
dweller in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup shall pass;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
22 The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished,
he will keep you in exile no longer;
but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish,
he will uncover your sins.
A Plea for Mercy
5 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
behold, and see our disgrace!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to aliens.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink,
the wood we get must be bought.
5 With a yoke[u] on our necks we are hard driven;
we are weary, we are given no rest.
6 We have given the hand to Egypt,
and to Assyria, to get bread enough.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
and we bear their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us;
there is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven
with the burning heat of famine.
11 Women are ravished in Zion,
virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands;
no respect is shown to the elders.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill;
and boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The old men have quit the city gate,
the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our heart has become sick,
for these things our eyes have grown dim,
18 for Mount Zion which lies desolate;
jackals prowl over it.
19 But thou, O Lord, dost reign for ever;
thy throne endures to all generations.
20 Why dost thou forget us for ever,
why dost thou so long forsake us?
21 Restore us to thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
Renew our days as of old!
22 Or hast thou utterly rejected us?
Art thou exceedingly angry with us?
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:4 Gk Old Latin: Heb afflicted
- Lamentations 1:7 Cn: Heb wandering
- Lamentations 1:12 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 1:13 Gk: Heb bones and
- Lamentations 1:14 Cn: Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 1:21 Gk Syr: Heb they heard
- Lamentations 1:21 Syr: Heb thou hast brought
- Lamentations 2:11 Heb to the ground
- Lamentations 2:18 Cn: Heb Their heart cried
- Lamentations 2:18 Cn: Heb O wall of
- Lamentations 3:19 Cn: Heb wandering
- Lamentations 3:22 Syr Tg: Heb we are not cut off
- Lamentations 3:56 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 3:66 Syr Compare Gk Vg: Heb the heavens of the Lord
- Lamentations 4:6 Or iniquity
- Lamentations 4:6 Or sin
- Lamentations 4:6 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 4:7 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 4:7 Heb lapis lazuli
- Lamentations 4:17 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 5:5 Symmachus: Heb lacks with a yoke
Lamentations 1-5
New King James Version
Jerusalem in Affliction
1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
(A)How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The (B)princess among the provinces
Has become a [a]slave!
2 She (C)weeps bitterly in the (D)night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
3 (E)Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
(F)She dwells among the [b]nations,
She finds no (G)rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
4 The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the [c]set feasts.
All her gates are (H)desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.
5 Her adversaries (I)have become [d]the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has afflicted her
(J)Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her (K)children have gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That [e]flee without strength
Before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem (L)remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her [f]downfall.
8 (M)Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become [g]vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because (N)they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She (O)did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”
10 The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her [h]pleasant things;
For she has seen (P)the nations enter her [i]sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
(Q)Not to enter Your assembly.
11 All her people sigh,
(R)They [j]seek bread;
They have given their [k]valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O Lord, and consider,
For I am scorned.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who [l]pass by?
Behold and see
(S)If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the Lord has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.
13 “From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has (T)spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.
14 “The(U) yoke of my transgressions was [m]bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
15 “The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
(V)The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things I weep;
My eye, (W)my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”
17 (X)Zion [n]spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those (Y)around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (Z)righteous,
For I (AA)rebelled against His [o]commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold 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
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.
20 “See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My (AB)soul[p] is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
(AC)Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.
21 “They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are (AD)glad that You have done it.
Bring on (AE)the day You have [q]announced,
That they may become like me.
22 “Let(AF) all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”
God’s Anger with Jerusalem
2 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a (AG)cloud in His anger!
(AH)He cast down from heaven to the earth
(AI)The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember (AJ)His footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up and has (AK)not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
(AL)He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 He has cut off in fierce anger
Every [r]horn of Israel;
(AM)He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
(AN)He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.
4 (AO)Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain (AP)all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.
5 (AQ)The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
(AR)He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.
6 He has done violence (AS)to His [s]tabernacle,
(AT)As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The Lord has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has (AU)spurned the king and the priest.
7 The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has (AV)abandoned His sanctuary;
He has [t]given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
(AW)They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of a set feast.
8 The Lord has [u]purposed to destroy
The (AX)wall of the daughter of Zion.
(AY)He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and (AZ)broken her bars.
(BA)Her king and her princes are among the [v]nations;
(BB)The Law is no more,
And her (BC)prophets find no [w]vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(BD)Sit on the ground and keep silence;
[x]They (BE)throw dust on their heads
And (BF)gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.
11 (BG)My eyes fail with tears,
My [y]heart is troubled;
(BH)My [z]bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because (BI)the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13 How shall I (BJ)console[aa] you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14 Your (BK)prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not (BL)uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false (BM)prophecies and delusions.
15 All who [ab]pass by (BN)clap their hands at you;
They hiss (BO)and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
(BP)‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16 (BQ)All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, (BR)“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the (BS)day we have waited for;
We have found it, (BT)we have seen it!”
17 The Lord has done what He (BU)purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to (BV)rejoice over you;
He has exalted the [ac]horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
(BW)Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give [ad]your eyes no rest.
19 “Arise, (BX)cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
(BY)Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger (BZ)at the head of every street.”
20 “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
(CA)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children [ae]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 “Young(CB) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the (CC)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.
22 “You have invited as to a feast day
(CD)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
(CE)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have (CF)destroyed.”
The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope
3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged (CG)my flesh and my skin,
And (CH)broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and [af]woe.
6 (CI)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.
7 (CJ)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even (CK)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 (CL)He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in [ag]ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and (CM)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow
And (CN)set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused (CO)the [ah]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my [ai]loins.
14 I have become the (CP)ridicule of all my people—
(CQ)Their taunting song all the day.
15 (CR)He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth (CS)with gravel,
And [aj]covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten [ak]prosperity.
18 (CT)And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and roaming,
(CU)The wormwood and the [al]gall.
20 My soul still remembers
And [am]sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have (CV)hope.
22 (CW)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions (CX)fail not.
23 They are new (CY)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my (CZ)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I (DA)hope in Him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who (DB)wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should (DC)hope (DD)and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 (DE)It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 (DF)Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
29 (DG)Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
30 (DH)Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.
31 (DI)For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For (DJ)He does not afflict [an]willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
(DK)The Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he (DL)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That (DM)woe and well-being proceed?
39 (DN)Why should a living man [ao]complain,
(DO)A man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
41 (DP)Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
42 (DQ)We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us an (DR)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
46 (DS)All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47 (DT)Fear and a snare have come upon us,
(DU)Desolation and destruction.
48 (DV)My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 (DW)My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
50 Till the Lord from heaven
(DX)Looks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies (DY)without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
53 They [ap]silenced my life (DZ)in the pit
And (EA)threw [aq]stones at me.
54 (EB)The waters flowed over my head;
(EC)I said, “I am cut off!”
55 (ED)I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest (EE)pit.
56 (EF)You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
57 You (EG)drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, (EH)“Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, You have (EI)pleaded the case for my soul;
(EJ)You have redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, You have seen [ar]how I am wronged;
(EK)Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their (EL)schemes against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
62 The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
63 Look at their (EM)sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.
64 (EN)Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
65 Give them [as]a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
66 In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
(EO)From under the heavens of the (EP)Lord.
The Degradation of Zion
4 How the gold has become dim!
How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are [at]scattered
At the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion,
[au]Valuable as fine gold,
How they are [av]regarded (EQ)as clay pots,
The work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even the jackals present their breasts
To nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is cruel,
(ER)Like ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth for thirst;
(ES)The young children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
5 Those who ate delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those who were brought up in scarlet
(ET)Embrace ash heaps.
6 The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the punishment of the (EU)sin of Sodom,
Which was (EV)overthrown in a moment,
With no hand to help her!
7 Her [aw]Nazirites were [ax]brighter than snow
And whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Like sapphire in their [ay]appearance.
8 Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets;
(EW)Their skin clings to their bones,
It has become as dry as wood.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off
Than those who die of hunger;
For these (EX)pine away,
Stricken for lack of the fruits of the (EY)field.
10 The hands of the (EZ)compassionate women
Have [az]cooked their (FA)own children;
They became (FB)food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
(FC)He has poured out His fierce anger.
(FD)He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.
12 The kings of the earth,
And all inhabitants of the world,
Would not have believed
That the adversary and the enemy
Could (FE)enter the gates of Jerusalem—
13 (FF)Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
(FG)Who shed in her midst
The blood of the just.
14 They wandered blind in the streets;
(FH)They have defiled themselves with blood,
(FI)So that no one would touch their garments.
15 They cried out to them,
“Go away, (FJ)unclean!
Go away, go away,
Do not touch us!”
When they fled and wandered,
Those among the nations said,
“They shall no longer dwell here.”
16 The [ba]face of the Lord scattered them;
He no longer regards them.
(FK)The people do not respect the priests
Nor show favor to the elders.
17 Still (FL)our eyes failed us,
Watching vainly for our help;
In our watching we watched
For a nation that could not save us.
18 (FM)They [bb]tracked our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets.
(FN)Our end was near;
Our days were over,
For our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were (FO)swifter
Than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains
And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The (FP)breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,
(FQ)Was caught in their pits,
Of whom we said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of (FR)Edom,
You who dwell in the land of Uz!
(FS)The cup shall also pass over to you
And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.
22 (FT)The punishment of your iniquity [bc]is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion;
He will no longer send you into captivity.
(FU)He will punish your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom;
He will uncover your sins!
Prayer for Restoration
5 Remember, (FV)O Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold (FW)our reproach!
2 (FX)Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like (FY)widows.
4 We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
5 (FZ)They pursue at our [bd]heels;
We labor and have no rest.
6 (GA)We have given our hand (GB)to the Egyptians
And the (GC)Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 (GD)Our fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
8 Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
11 They (GE)ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
13 Young men (GF)ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.
14 The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their (GG)music.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into (GH)mourning.
16 (GI)The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our heart is faint;
(GJ)Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
18 Because of Mount Zion which is (GK)desolate,
With foxes walking about on it.
19 You, O Lord, (GL)remain forever;
(GM)Your throne from generation to generation.
20 (GN)Why do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?
21 (GO)Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be [be]restored;
Renew our days as of old,
22 Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 Lit. forced laborer
- Lamentations 1:3 Gentiles
- Lamentations 1:4 appointed
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit. her head
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit. are gone
- Lamentations 1:7 Vg. Sabbaths
- Lamentations 1:8 LXX, Vg. moved or removed
- Lamentations 1:10 desirable
- Lamentations 1:10 holy place, the temple
- Lamentations 1:11 hunt food
- Lamentations 1:11 desirable things
- Lamentations 1:12 Lit. pass by this way
- Lamentations 1:14 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Syr., Vg. watched over
- Lamentations 1:17 Prays
- Lamentations 1:18 Lit. mouth
- Lamentations 1:20 Lit. inward parts
- Lamentations 1:21 proclaimed
- Lamentations 2:3 Strength
- Lamentations 2:6 Lit. booth
- Lamentations 2:7 delivered
- Lamentations 2:8 determined
- Lamentations 2:9 Gentiles
- Lamentations 2:9 Prophetic revelation
- Lamentations 2:10 A sign of mourning
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit. inward parts
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit. liver
- Lamentations 2:13 Or bear witness to
- Lamentations 2:15 Lit. pass by this way
- Lamentations 2:17 Strength
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit. the daughter of your eye
- Lamentations 2:20 Vg. a span long
- Lamentations 3:5 hardship or weariness
- Lamentations 3:10 Lit. secret places
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit. sons of
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit. kidneys
- Lamentations 3:16 Lit. bent me down in
- Lamentations 3:17 Lit. good
- Lamentations 3:19 bitterness
- Lamentations 3:20 Lit. bowed down
- Lamentations 3:33 Lit. from His heart
- Lamentations 3:39 Or murmur
- Lamentations 3:53 LXX put to death
- Lamentations 3:53 Lit. a stone on
- Lamentations 3:59 Lit. my wrong
- Lamentations 3:65 A Jewish tradition sorrow of
- Lamentations 4:1 Lit. poured out
- Lamentations 4:2 Lit. Weighed against
- Lamentations 4:2 reckoned
- Lamentations 4:7 Or nobles
- Lamentations 4:7 Or purer
- Lamentations 4:7 Lit. polishing
- Lamentations 4:10 boiled
- Lamentations 4:16 Tg. anger
- Lamentations 4:18 Lit. hunted
- Lamentations 4:22 has been completed
- Lamentations 5:5 Lit. necks
- Lamentations 5:21 returned
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
