Lamentations 1-5
New American Standard Bible
The Sorrows of Zion
1 How (A)lonely sits the city
That once had (B)many people!
She has become like a (C)widow
Who was once (D)great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the [a]provinces
Has become a (E)forced laborer!
2 She (F)weeps bitterly in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She has no one to comfort her
Among all her (G)lovers.
All her friends have (H)dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
3 (I)Judah has gone into exile out of affliction
And [b]harsh servitude;
She lives (J)among the nations,
But she has not found a resting place;
All those who (K)pursued her have overtaken her
In the midst of [c]distress.
4 The roads [d]of Zion are in mourning
Because (L)no one comes to an appointed feast.
All her gates are (M)deserted;
Her priests groan,
Her (N)virgins are worried,
And as for Zion herself, it is (O)bitter for her.
5 Her adversaries have become [e]her masters,
Her enemies are [f]secure;
For the Lord has [g](P)caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her wrongdoings;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives [h]led by the enemy.
6 All of her (Q)splendor
Is gone from the daughter of Zion;
Her leaders have become like deer
That have found no pasture,
And they have [i](R)fled without strength
[j]From the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and homelessness
(S)Jerusalem remembers all her treasures
That were hers since the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And (T)no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They (U)laughed at her [k]ruin.
8 Jerusalem sinned (V)greatly,
Therefore (W)she has become an [l]object of ridicule.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even (X)she herself groans and turns away.
9 Her (Y)uncleanness was in her garment’s seams;
She [m]did not think of her (Z)future.
So she has [n](AA)fallen in an astonishing way;
(AB)She has no comforter.
“(AC)See, Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has [o](AD)honored himself!”
10 The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the (AE)nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they were (AF)not to enter Your congregation.
11 All her people groan, (AG)seeking bread;
They have given their treasures for food
To (AH)restore their [p]lives.
“See, Lord, and look,
For I am (AI)despised.”
12 “Is it (AJ)nothing to all you who pass this way?
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain
Which was inflicted on me,
With which the (AK)Lord tormented me on the day of His (AL)fierce anger.
13 From [q]the height He sent fire into my (AM)bones,
And it dominated them.
He has spread a (AN)net for my feet;
He has turned me back;
He has made me (AO)desolate,
[r]Faint all day long.
14 The (AP)yoke of my wrongdoings is bound;
By His hand they are woven together.
They have (AQ)come upon my neck;
He has made my strength [s]fail.
The Lord (AR)has handed me over
To those against whom I am not able to stand.
15 The (AS)Lord has thrown away all my strong men
In my midst;
He has called an appointed [t]time against me
To crush my (AT)young men;
The Lord has (AU)trodden as in a wine press
The virgin daughter of Judah.
16 For these things I (AV)weep;
[u]My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a (AW)comforter,
One to restore my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion (AX)stretches out with her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has (AY)commanded regarding Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
(AZ)Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (BA)righteous,
For I have (BB)rebelled against His [v]command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And (BC)see my pain;
(BD)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 I (BE)called to my lovers, but they deserted me;
My (BF)priests and my elders perished in the city
While they sought food to (BG)restore their [w]strength themselves.
20 See, Lord, for I am in distress;
My [x](BH)spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very (BI)rebellious.
In the street the sword has made women childless;
In the house it is like death.
21 They have heard that I (BJ)groan;
There is no one to comfort me,
All my enemies have heard of my disaster;
They are (BK)joyful that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,
So that they will become (BL)like me.
22 May all their wickedness come before You;
And (BM)deal with them just as You have dealt with me
For all my wrongdoings.
For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”
God’s Anger over Israel
2 How the Lord has [y](BN)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has (BO)hurled
The (BP)glory of Israel from heaven to earth,
And has not remembered His (BQ)footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has [z](BR)destroyed; He has not spared
All the settlements of Jacob.
In His wrath He has (BS)overthrown
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah,
He has (BT)hurled them down to the ground;
He has (BU)profaned the kingdom and its leaders.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off
[aa]All the (BV)strength of Israel;
He has (BW)pulled back His right hand
From the enemy.
And He has (BX)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming on all sides.
4 He has bent His (BY)bow like an enemy;
His right hand is positioned like an adversary,
And He has killed everything that was (BZ)pleasant to the eye.
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has (CA)poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an (CB)enemy.
He has (CC)engulfed Israel;
He has engulfed all its (CD)palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And (CE)caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.
6 And He has treated His [ab]tabernacle violently, like a despised garden;
He has (CF)destroyed His appointed [ac]meeting place.
The Lord has (CG)caused
The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten,
And He has (CH)despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has (CI)rejected His altar,
He has [ad]repudiated His sanctuary;
He (CJ)has handed over
The walls of her palaces to the enemy.
They have made a (CK)noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has (CL)stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from [ae]destroying,
And He has (CM)caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
9 Her (CN)gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her leaders are among the nations;
The (CO)Law is gone.
Her prophets, too, find
(CP)No vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(CQ)Sit on the ground and [af](CR)are silent.
They have thrown (CS)dust on their heads;
They have put on (CT)sackcloth.
The (CU)virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My (CV)eyes fail because of tears,
My [ag](CW)spirit is greatly troubled;
My [ah](CX)heart is poured out on the earth
(CY)Because of the [ai]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When (CZ)little ones and infants languish
In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“(DA)Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded person
In the streets of the city,
As their (DB)lives are poured out
[aj]In their mothers’ arms.
13 How shall I admonish you?
What (DC)shall I compare to you,
Daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I liken to you as I comfort you,
(DD)Virgin daughter of Zion?
For your collapse is as vast as the sea;
Who can (DE)heal you?
14 Your (DF)prophets have seen for you
Worthless and deceptive visions;
And they have not (DG)exposed your wrongdoing
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have (DH)seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements.
15 All who pass along the way
(DI)Clap their hands in ridicule at you;
They (DJ)[ak]hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘(DK)Perfect in beauty,
(DL)A joy to all the earth’?”
16 All (DM)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They [al]hiss and (DN)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have (DO)engulfed her!
This certainly is the (DP)day which we awaited;
We have reached it, we have seen it!”
17 The Lord has (DQ)done what He determined;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has torn down (DR)without sparing,
And He has helped the enemy to (DS)rejoice over you;
He has (DT)exalted the [am]might of your adversaries.
18 Their (DU)heart cried out to the Lord:
“You (DV)wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your (DW)tears stream down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let [an]your eyes have no rest.
19 Arise, whimper in the (DX)night
At the beginning of the night watches;
(DY)Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Raise your hands to Him
For the (DZ)life of your little ones
Who (EA)languish because of hunger
At the head of every street.
20 See, Lord, and look!
With (EB)whom have You dealt this way?
Should women really (EC)eat their [ao]children,
The little ones who were [ap]born healthy?
Should (ED)priest and prophet really be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 On the ground in the streets
Lie (EE)young and old;
My (EF)virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword.
You have put them to death on the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered, (EG)without sparing.
22 You called as on the day of an appointed feast
My (EH)terrors on every side;
And there was (EI)no one who survived or escaped
On the day of the Lord’s anger.
As for those (EJ)whom I brought forth healthy and whom I raised,
My enemy annihilated them.”
Jeremiah Shares Israel’s Misery
3 I am the man who has (EK)seen misery
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In (EL)darkness and not in light.
3 Indeed, He has (EM)turned His hand against me
Repeatedly all the day.
4 He has consumed my (EN)flesh and my skin,
He has (EO)broken my bones.
5 He has [aq](EP)besieged and surrounded me with [ar](EQ)bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me live in (ER)dark places,
Like those who have long been dead.
7 He has (ES)walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my [as](ET)chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He (EU)shuts out my prayer.
9 He has (EV)blocked my ways with cut stone;
He has twisted my paths.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has made my ways deviate, and (EW)torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He (EX)bent His bow
And (EY)took aim at me as a target for the arrow.
13 He made the [at]arrows of His (EZ)quiver
Enter my [au]inward parts.
14 I have become a (FA)laughingstock to all my people,
Their (FB)song of ridicule all the day.
15 He has (FC)filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink plenty of wormwood.
16 He has also (FD)made my teeth grind with (FE)gravel;
He has made me cower in the (FF)dust.
17 My soul has been excluded (FG)from peace;
I have forgotten [av]happiness.
18 So I say, “My [aw]strength has failed,
And so has my (FH)hope from the Lord.”
Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy
19 Remember my misery and my homelessness, the (FI)wormwood and [ax]bitterness.
20 (FJ)My soul certainly remembers,
And [ay]is (FK)bent over within me.
21 I recall this to my mind,
Therefore I [az](FL)wait.
22 [ba]The Lord’s (FM)acts of mercy indeed do not end,
(FN)For His compassions do not fail.
23 They are new (FO)every morning;
Great is (FP)Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my (FQ)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I [bb](FR)wait for Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who [bc](FS)await Him,
To the [bd]person who (FT)seeks Him.
26 It is good that he (FU)waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him (FV)sit alone and keep quiet,
Since He has laid it on him.
29 Let him [be]put his mouth in the (FW)dust;
Perhaps there is (FX)hope.
30 Let him give his (FY)cheek to the one who is going to strike him;
Let him be filled with shame.
31 For the Lord will (FZ)not reject forever,
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have (GA)compassion
In proportion to His abundant mercy.
33 For He (GB)does not [bf]afflict [bg]willingly
Or [bh]grieve the sons of mankind.
34 To crush under [bi]one’s feet
All the prisoners of the [bj]land,
35 To [bk]deprive a man of (GC)justice
In the presence of the Most High,
36 To [bl](GD)defraud someone in his lawsuit—
Of these things the Lord does not [bm]approve.
37 Who is [bn]there who speaks and it (GE)comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That [bo](GF)both adversity and good proceed?
39 Of what can any living [bp]mortal, or any man,
(GG)Complain [bq]in view of his sins?
40 Let’s (GH)examine and search out our ways,
And let’s return to the Lord.
41 We (GI)raise our heart [br]and hands
Toward God in heaven;
42 We have (GJ)done wrong and rebelled;
You have (GK)not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with (GL)anger
And (GM)pursued us;
You have slain and (GN)have not spared.
44 You have (GO)veiled Yourself with a cloud
So that (GP)no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us mere (GQ)refuse and rubbish
In the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies have (GR)opened their mouths against us.
47 (GS)Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
Devastation and destruction;
48 My [bs](GT)eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow (GU)unceasingly,
Without stopping,
50 Until the Lord (GV)looks down
And sees from heaven.
51 My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies (GW)without reason
Hunted me down (GX)like a bird;
53 They have silenced [bt]me (GY)in the pit
And have [bu](GZ)thrown stones on me.
54 Waters flowed (HA)over my head;
I said, “I am [bv]cut off!”
55 I (HB)called on Your name, Lord,
Out of the lowest pit.
56 You have (HC)heard my voice,
“(HD)Do not cover Your ear from my plea for relief,
From my cry for help.”
57 You (HE)came near on the day I called to You;
You said, “(HF)Do not fear!”
58 Lord, You (HG)have pleaded my soul’s cause;
You have (HH)redeemed my life.
59 Lord, You have (HI)seen my oppression;
(HJ)Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their (HK)schemes against me.
61 You have heard their (HL)reproach, Lord,
All their schemes against me.
62 The (HM)lips of my assailants and their talk
Are against me all day long.
63 Look at their [bw](HN)sitting and their rising;
(HO)I am their mocking song.
64 You will (HP)repay them, Lord,
In accordance with the work of their hands.
65 You will give them [bx](HQ)shamelessness of heart,
Your curse will be on them.
66 You will (HR)pursue them in anger and eliminate them
From under the (HS)heavens of the Lord!
Distress of the Siege Described
4 How (HT)dark the gold has become,
How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are spilled out
At the [by]corner of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion,
Weighed against pure gold,
How they are regarded as (HU)earthenware jars,
The work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even (HV)jackals offer the breast,
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has proved herself (HW)cruel,
Like (HX)ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The (HY)tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth because of (HZ)thirst;
The children (IA)ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
5 Those who used to eat (IB)delicacies
Are made to tremble in the streets;
Those who were raised in crimson clothing
Embrace garbage heaps.
6 For the [bz]wrongdoing of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the [ca](IC)sin of Sodom,
Which was (ID)overthrown as in a moment,
[cb]And no hands were turned toward her.
7 Her [cc]consecrated ones were (IE)purer than snow,
They shined more than milk;
They were more ruddy in [cd]body than pearls of coral,
Their form was like [ce](IF)lapis lazuli.
8 Their appearance is (IG)darker than soot,
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their (IH)skin is shriveled on their bones,
It is dry, it has become like wood.
9 Better off are those (II)killed by the sword
Than those killed by hunger;
For they [cf](IJ)waste away, [cg]stricken
By the lack of the produce of the field.
10 The hands of compassionate women
(IK)Boiled their own children;
They became (IL)food for them
Due to the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord has (IM)expended His wrath,
He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has (IN)kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has consumed its foundations.
12 The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of (IO)the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Would (IP)enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Because of the sins of her (IQ)prophets
And the wrongdoings of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The (IR)blood of the righteous,
14 They wandered, (IS)blind, in the streets;
They were defiled with (IT)blood,
Such that no one could touch their (IU)garments.
15 “Keep away! (IV)Unclean!” [ch]they cried out of themselves.
“Keep away, keep away, do not touch!”
For they (IW)distanced themselves as well as wandered;
People among the nations said,
“They shall not continue to reside with us.”
16 The presence of the Lord has scattered them,
He will not continue to look at them;
They did not [ci](IX)honor the priests,
They did not favor the elders.
17 Yet our eyes failed,
Looking for [cj]help was (IY)useless;
At our observation point we have watched
For a (IZ)nation that could not save.
18 They (JA)hunted our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets;
Our (JB)end drew near,
Our days were [ck]finished
For our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were (JC)swifter
Than the eagles of the sky;
They chased us on the mountains,
They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
20 The (JD)breath of our nostrils, the (JE)Lord’s anointed,
Was (JF)captured in their pits,
Of whom we had said, “[cl]In his (JG)shadow
We shall live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be joyful, daughter of (JH)Edom,
Who lives in the land of Uz;
But the (JI)cup will pass to you as well,
You will become drunk and expose yourself.
22 The punishment of your wrongdoing has been (JJ)completed, daughter of Zion;
He will no longer exile you.
But He (JK)will punish your wrongdoing, daughter of Edom;
He will expose your sins!
A Prayer for Mercy
5 Remember, Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and see our (JL)disgrace!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to (JM)strangers,
Our (JN)houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, (JO)without a father;
Our mothers are like widows.
4 [cm]We have to pay for our drinking (JP)water,
Our wood comes to us at a price.
5 [cn]Our pursuers are at our necks;
We are worn out, we are given (JQ)no rest.
6 We have [co]submitted to (JR)Egypt and Assyria [cp]to get enough bread.
7 Our (JS)fathers sinned, and are gone;
It is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.
8 (JT)Slaves rule over us;
There is (JU)no one to rescue us from their hand.
9 We get our bread [cq]at the (JV)risk of our lives
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin has become as (JW)hot as an oven,
Because of the ravages of hunger.
11 They violated the (JX)women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Leaders were hung by their hands;
[cr](JY)Elders were not respected.
13 Young men [cs](JZ)worked at the grinding mill,
And youths (KA)staggered under loads of wood.
14 Elders are absent from the gate,
Young men from their (KB)music.
15 The joy of our hearts has (KC)ended;
Our dancing has been turned into mourning.
16 The (KD)crown has fallen from our head;
(KE)Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our (KF)heart is faint,
Because of these things our (KG)eyes are dim;
18 Because of (KH)Mount Zion which lies desolate,
(KI)Jackals prowl in it.
19 (KJ)You, Lord, [ct]rule forever;
Your (KK)throne is from generation to generation.
20 Why will You (KL)forget us forever?
Why do You abandon us for [cu]so long?
21 (KM)Restore us to You, Lord, so that we may be restored;
Renew (KN)our days as of old,
22 Unless (KO)You have utterly rejected us
And are exceedingly (KP)angry with us.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 Or districts
- Lamentations 1:3 Lit great
- Lamentations 1:3 Or narrow places
- Lamentations 1:4 Or to
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit head
- Lamentations 1:5 Or at ease
- Lamentations 1:5 Or tormented her
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit before
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit gone
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit Before
- Lamentations 1:7 Lit cessation
- Lamentations 1:8 Or abomination
- Lamentations 1:9 Or remember her final end
- Lamentations 1:9 Lit gone down
- Lamentations 1:9 Or boasted
- Lamentations 1:11 Lit soul
- Lamentations 1:13 I.e., heaven
- Lamentations 1:13 Or Sick
- Lamentations 1:14 Lit falter
- Lamentations 1:15 Another reading is feast
- Lamentations 1:16 Lit My eye, my eye
- Lamentations 1:18 Lit mouth
- Lamentations 1:19 Lit soul
- Lamentations 1:20 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:1 Or scorned...Zion in His anger
- Lamentations 2:2 Lit engulfed
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit Every horn
- Lamentations 2:6 Or booth
- Lamentations 2:6 Or feast
- Lamentations 2:7 I.e., scornfully rejected
- Lamentations 2:8 Lit engulfing
- Lamentations 2:10 Another reading is wail
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit liver
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:12 Lit on...breast
- Lamentations 2:15 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:16 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:17 Lit horn
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit the daughter of your eye
- Lamentations 2:20 Lit fruit
- Lamentations 2:20 Or tenderly cared for
- Lamentations 3:5 Lit built against
- Lamentations 3:5 Lit poison
- Lamentations 3:7 Lit bronze piece
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit sons
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit kidneys
- Lamentations 3:17 Lit good
- Lamentations 3:18 Or splendor
- Lamentations 3:19 Lit poison
- Lamentations 3:20 Or bows down
- Lamentations 3:21 Lit have hope
- Lamentations 3:22 As in ancient versions; MT It is...mercy that we do not end
- Lamentations 3:24 Or hope in
- Lamentations 3:25 Or hope in
- Lamentations 3:25 Lit soul
- Lamentations 3:29 Lit give
- Lamentations 3:33 Or oppress
- Lamentations 3:33 Lit from His heart
- Lamentations 3:33 Or torment
- Lamentations 3:34 Lit his
- Lamentations 3:34 Or earth
- Lamentations 3:35 Or turn aside a man’s case
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit bend
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit see
- Lamentations 3:37 Lit this
- Lamentations 3:38 Lit the evil things and the good
- Lamentations 3:39 Or human being
- Lamentations 3:39 Or on the basis of
- Lamentations 3:41 Lit toward our
- Lamentations 3:48 Lit eye goes down
- Lamentations 3:53 Lit my life
- Lamentations 3:53 Or thrown a stone
- Lamentations 3:54 Or destroyed
- Lamentations 3:63 I.e., daily activities
- Lamentations 3:65 Or insanity
- Lamentations 4:1 Lit head
- Lamentations 4:6 Or punishment for wrongdoing
- Lamentations 4:6 Or punishment for sin
- Lamentations 4:6 I.e., without human intervention
- Lamentations 4:7 Or Nazirites
- Lamentations 4:7 Lit bones
- Lamentations 4:7 Heb sappir
- Lamentations 4:9 Lit flow away
- Lamentations 4:9 Lit pierced through
- Lamentations 4:15 Or they (other people) cried to them
- Lamentations 4:16 Lit lift up the faces of
- Lamentations 4:17 Lit our help
- Lamentations 4:18 Lit full
- Lamentations 4:20 I.e., under his protection
- Lamentations 5:4 Lit We drink our water with silver
- Lamentations 5:5 Lit We have been pursued upon
- Lamentations 5:6 Lit given Egypt a hand
- Lamentations 5:6 Lit to be satisfied with
- Lamentations 5:9 Lit with our soul
- Lamentations 5:12 Lit The faces of elders
- Lamentations 5:13 Lit carried the
- Lamentations 5:19 Lit sit
- Lamentations 5:20 Lit length of days
Lamentations 1-5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Deserted City
1 How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
has become subject to forced labor.(A)
2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers,
she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.(B)
3 Judah has gone into exile with suffering
and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations;
she finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.(C)
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate;
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,[a]
and her lot is bitter.(D)
5 Her foes have become the masters;
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.(E)
6 From daughter Zion has departed
all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.(F)
7 Jerusalem remembers[b] all the precious things
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy
and there was no one to help her,
the enemy looked on;
they mocked over her downfall.(G)
8 Jerusalem sinned grievously,
so she has become a filthy thing;
all who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans
and turns her face away.(H)
9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
her downfall was appalling,
with none to comfort her.
Look, O Lord, at my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!(I)
10 Enemies have stretched out their hands
over all her precious things;
she has even seen the nations
invade her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
to enter your congregation.(J)
11 All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their lives.
Look, O Lord, and see
how worthless I have become.(K)
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.(L)
13 From on high he sent fire;
it went deep into my bones;
he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
faint all day long.(M)
14 My transgressions were bound[d] into a yoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they weigh on my neck,
sapping my strength;
the Lord handed me over
to those whom I cannot withstand.(N)
15 The Lord has rejected
all my warriors in the midst of me;
he proclaimed a time against me
to crush my young men;
the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter Judah.(O)
16 For these things I weep;
my eyes[e] flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
one to revive my courage;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.(P)
17 Zion stretches out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.(Q)
18 The Lord is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and behold my suffering;
my young women and young men
have gone into captivity.(R)
19 I called to my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city
while seeking food
to revive their lives.(S)
20 Look, O Lord, at how distressed I am;
my stomach churns;
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.(T)
21 They heard how I was groaning,
with no one to comfort me.
All my enemies heard of my trouble;
they are glad that you have done it.
Bring on the day that you have announced,
and let them be as I am.(U)
22 Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for my groans are many,
and my heart is faint.(V)
God’s Warnings Fulfilled
2 How the Lord in his anger
has humiliated[f] daughter Zion!
He has thrown down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.(W)
2 The Lord has destroyed without mercy
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of daughter Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.(X)
3 He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn his right hand from them
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.(Y)
4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
he has killed all those
in whom we took pride
in the tent of daughter Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.(Z)
5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has destroyed Israel.
He has destroyed all its palaces,
laid in ruins its strongholds,
and multiplied in daughter Judah
mourning and lamentation.(AA)
6 He has broken down his booth like a garden;
he has destroyed his tabernacle;
the Lord has abolished in Zion
festival and Sabbath
and in his fierce indignation has spurned
king and priest.(AB)
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 a day of festival.(AC)
8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of daughter Zion;
he stretched the line;
he did not withhold his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languish together.(AD)
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
guidance is no more,
and her prophets obtain
no vision from the Lord.(AE)
10 The elders of daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads;
they put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(AF)
11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out on the ground
because of the destruction of my people,[g]
because infants and babes faint
in the streets of the city.(AG)
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosoms.(AH)
13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter Zion?
For vast as the sea is your ruin;
who can heal you?(AI)
14 Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes
but have seen oracles for you
that are false and misleading.(AJ)
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”(AK)
16 All your enemies
open their mouths against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have devoured her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
at last we have seen it!”(AL)
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he 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.(AM)
18 Cry aloud[h] to the Lord!
O wall of daughter Zion!
Let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!(AN)
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.(AO)
20 Look, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have you done this?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have borne?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(AP)
21 The young and the old are lying
on the ground in the streets;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
in the day of your anger you have killed them,
slaughtering without mercy.(AQ)
22 You invited my enemies from all around
as if for a day of festival;
and on the day of the anger of the Lord,
no one escaped or survived;
those whom I bore and reared,
my enemy has destroyed.(AR)
God’s Steadfast Love Endures
3 I am one who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s[i] wrath;(AS)
2 he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
3 against me alone he turns his hand,
again and again, all day long.(AT)
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
he has broken my bones;(AU)
5 he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6 he has made me sit in darkness
like the dead of long ago.(AV)
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;(AW)
8 though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;(AX)
9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;(AY)
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.(AZ)
13 He shot into my vitals
the arrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the laughingstock of all my people,
the object of their taunt songs all day long.(BA)
15 He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel;
he has 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 all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”
19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!(BB)
20 My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.(BC)
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,[j]
his mercies never come to an end;(BD)
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(BE)
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”(BF)
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.(BG)
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.(BH)
27 It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,(BI)
28 to sit alone in silence
when the Lord[k] has imposed it,(BJ)
29 to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
30 to give one’s cheek to the smiter
and be filled with insults.(BK)
31 For the Lord will not
reject forever.(BL)
32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;(BM)
33 for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.(BN)
34 When all the prisoners of the land
are crushed under foot,
35 when justice is perverted
in the presence of the Most High,(BO)
36 when one’s case is subverted—
does the Lord not see it?(BP)
37 Who can command and have it done,
if the Lord has not ordained it?(BQ)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that evil and good come?(BR)
39 Why should any who draw breath complain
about the punishment of their sins?(BS)
40 Let us test and examine our ways
and return to the Lord.(BT)
41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
to God in heaven.(BU)
42 We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.(BV)
43 You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;(BW)
44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us filth and rubbish
among the peoples.(BX)
46 All our enemies
have opened their mouths against us;(BY)
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.(BZ)
48 My eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of my people.[l]
49 My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,(CA)
50 until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees.(CB)
51 My eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the young women in my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
have hunted me like a bird;(CC)
53 they flung me alive into a pit
and hurled stones on me;(CD)
54 water closed over my head;
I said, “I am lost.”(CE)
55 I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;(CF)
56 you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear
to my cry for help, but give me relief!”(CG)
57 You came near when I called on you;
you said, “Do not fear!”(CH)
58 You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life.(CI)
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their malice,
all their plots against me.(CJ)
61 You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62 The whispers and murmurs of my assailants
are against me all day long.
63 Whether they sit or rise—see,
I am the object of their taunt songs.
64 Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord,
according to the work of their hands!
65 Give them anguish of heart;
your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the Lord’s heavens.(CK)
The Punishment of Zion
4 How the gold has grown dim;
how the pure gold is changed!
The sacred stones lie scattered
at the head of every street.
2 The precious children of Zion,
worth their weight in fine gold—
how they are reckoned as earthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands!(CL)
3 Even the jackals offer the breast
and nurse their young,
but my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.(CM)
4 The tongue of the infant sticks
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
the children beg for food,
but there is nothing for them.(CN)
5 Those who feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
those who were brought up in purple
cling to ash heaps.
6 For the chastisement of my people has been greater
than the punishment of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment,
though no hand was laid on it.[m](CO)
7 Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
their form cut like sapphire.[n](CP)
8 Now their visage is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as wood.(CQ)
9 Happier were those pierced by the sword
than those pierced by hunger,
whose life drains away, deprived
of the produce of the field.(CR)
10 The hands of compassionate women
have boiled their own children;
they became their food
in the destruction of my people.(CS)
11 The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger
and kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.(CT)
12 The kings of the earth did not believe,
nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.(CU)
13 It was for the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed the blood of the righteous
in her midst.(CV)
14 Blindly they wandered through the streets,
so defiled with blood
that no one was able
to touch their garments.(CW)
15 “Away! Unclean!” people shouted at them;
“Away! Away! Do not touch!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
it was said among the nations,
“They shall stay here no longer.”(CX)
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.(CY)
17 Our eyes failed, ever watching
vainly for help;
we were watching eagerly
for a nation that could not save.(CZ)
18 They 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.(DA)
19 Our pursuers were swifter
than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.(DB)
20 The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life,
was taken in their pits—
the one of whom we said, “Under his shadow
we shall live among the nations.”(DC)
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom,
you that live in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup shall pass;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.(DD)
22 The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter Zion, is accomplished;
he will keep you in exile no longer;
but your iniquity, O daughter Edom, he will punish;
he will uncover your sins.(DE)
A Plea for Mercy
5 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see our disgrace!(DF)
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to aliens.(DG)
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[o] on our necks we are hard driven;
we are weary; we are given no rest.(DH)
6 We have made a pact with[p] Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.(DI)
7 Our ancestors sinned; they are no more,
and we bear their iniquities.(DJ)
8 Slaves rule over us;
there is no one to deliver us from their hand.(DK)
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is black as an oven
from the scorching heat of famine.(DL)
11 Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the towns of Judah.(DM)
12 Princes are hung up by their hands;
no respect is shown to the elders.(DN)
13 Young men are compelled to grind,
and boys stagger under loads of wood.(DO)
14 The old men have left the city gate,
the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has been turned to mourning.(DP)
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are sick;
because of these things our eyes have grown dim:(DQ)
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate;
jackals prowl over it.
19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures to all generations.(DR)
20 Why have you forgotten us completely?
Why have you forsaken us these many days?(DS)
21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored;
renew our days as of old—(DT)
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.(DU)
Footnotes
- 1.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 1.7 Q ms: MT adds in the days of her affliction and wandering
- 1.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 1.14 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 1.16 Heb my eye, my eye
- 2.1 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 2.11 Heb the daughter of my people
- 2.18 Cn: Heb Their heart cried
- 3.1 Heb his
- 3.22 Syr Tg: Heb Lord, we are not cut off
- 3.28 Heb he
- 3.48 Heb the daughter of my people
- 4.6 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 4.7 Or lapis lazuli
- 5.5 Symmachus: Heb lacks With a yoke
- 5.6 Heb have given the hand to
Lamentations 1-5
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
1 Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of provinces made tributary!
2 Beth. Weeping she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear to her: all her friends have despised her, and are become her enemies.
3 Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage: she hath dwelt among the nations, and she hath found no rest: all her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits.
4 Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down: her priests sigh: her virgins are in affliction, and she is oppressed with bitterness.
5 He. Her adversaries are become her lords, her enemies are enriched: because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of her iniquities: her children are led into captivity: before the face of the oppressor.
6 Vau. And from the daughter of Sion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like rams that find no pastures: and they are gone away without strength before the face of the pursuer.
7 Zain. Jerusalem hath remembered the days of her affliction, and prevarication of all her desirable things which she had from the days of old, when her people fell in the enemy's hand, and there was no helper: the enemies have seen her, and have mocked at her sabbaths.
8 Heth. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she become unstable: all that honoured her have despised her, because they have seen her shame: but she sighed and turned backward.
9 Teth. Her filthiness is on her feet, and she hath not remembered her end: she is wonderfully cast down, not having a comforter: behold, O Lord, my affliction, because the enemy is lifted up.
10 Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church.
11 Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have given all their precious things for food to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile.
12 Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.
13 Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long.
14 Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a hand out of which I am not able to rise.
15 Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to destroy my chosen men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Juda.
16 Ain. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water: because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me: my children are desolate because the enemy hath prevailed.
17 Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded against Jacob, his enemies are round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.
18 Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity.
19 Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my priests and my ancients pined away in the city: while they sought their food, to relieve their souls.
20 Res. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, my bowels are troubled: my heart is turned within me, for I am full of bitterness: abroad the sword destroyeth, and at home there is death alike.
21 Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my evil, they have rejoiced that thou hast done it: thou hast brought a day of consolation, and they shall be like unto me.
22 Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make vintage of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all my iniquities: for my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful.
2 Aleph. How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from heaven to the earth the glorious one of Israel, and hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger!
2 Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his wrath the strong holds of the virgin of Juda, and brought them down to the ground: he hath made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof.
3 Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming fire devouring round about.
4 Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion, he hath poured out his indignation like fire.
5 He. The Lord is become as an enemy: he hath cast down Israel headlong, he hath overthrown all the walls thereof: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath multiplied in the daughter of Juda the afflicted, both men and women.
6 Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath thrown down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath.
7 Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.
8 Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
9 Teth. 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, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.
12 Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.
13 Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?
14 Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
15 Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?
16 Phe. All thy enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.
17 Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath fulfilled his word, which he commanded in the days of old: he hath destroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, and hath set up the horn of thy adversaries.
18 Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.
19 Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the watches: pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets.
20 Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast thus dealt with: shall women then eat their own fruit, their children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity.
22 Thau. Thou hast called as to a festival, those that should terrify me round about, and there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that escaped and was left: those that I brought up, and nourished, my enemy hath consumed them.
3 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.
6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.
10 Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.
11 Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
12 Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.
13 He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
14 He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.
15 He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.
16 Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.
17 Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
18 Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
19 Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall.
20 Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.
21 Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.
22 Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.
23 Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
24 Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.
25 Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
27 Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.
28 Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
29 Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
30 Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.
31 Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32 Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.
34 Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
35 Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,
36 Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.
37 Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?
39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
40 Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
41 Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.
42 Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.
43 Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
44 Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.
45 Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
48 Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:
50 Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
51 Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.
53 Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.
54 Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.
55 Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
56 Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
57 Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
58 Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.
59 Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.
60 Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.
61 Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.
62 Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.
63 Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.
64 Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
65 Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
66 Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.
4 Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?
2 Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the potter's hands?
3 Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert.
4 Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them.
5 He. They that were fed delicately have died in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung.
6 Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took nothing in her.
7 Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.
8 Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood.
9 Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the earth.
10 Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
12 Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Mem. 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.
14 Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were defiled with blood: and when they could not help walking in it, they held up their skirts.
15 Samech. Depart you that are defiled, they cried out to them: Depart, get ye hence, touch not: for they quarrelled, and being removed, they said among the Gentiles: He will no more dwell among them.
16 Phe. The face of the Lord hath divided them, he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, neither had they pity on the ancient.
17 Ain. While we were yet standing, our eyes failed, expecting help for us in vain, when we looked attentively towards a nation that was not able to save.
18 Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.
19 Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.
21 Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus: to thee also shall the cup come, thou shalt be made drunk, and naked.
22 Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he visited thy iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath discovered thy sins.
5 Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach.
2 Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.
3 We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.
5 We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given us.
6 We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand.
9 We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine.
11 They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the cities of Juda.
12 The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not respect the persons of the ancient.
13 They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under the wood.
14 The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the choir of the singers.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, because we have sinned.
17 Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes become dim,
18 For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked upon it.
19 But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us for a long time?
21 Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning.
22 But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly angry against us.
Lamentations 1-5
The Message
Worthless, Cheap, Abject!
1 Oh, oh, oh . . .
How empty the city, once teeming with people.
A widow, this city, once in the front rank of nations,
once queen of the ball, she’s now a drudge in the kitchen.
2 She cries herself to sleep each night, tears soaking her pillow.
No one’s left among her lovers to sit and hold her hand.
Her friends have all dumped her.
3 After years of pain and hard labor, Judah has gone into exile.
She camps out among the nations, never feels at home.
Hunted by all, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.
4 Zion’s roads weep, empty of pilgrims headed to the feasts.
All her city gates are deserted, her priests in despair.
Her virgins are sad. How bitter her fate.
5 Her enemies have become her masters. Her foes are living it up
because God laid her low, punishing her repeated rebellions.
Her children, prisoners of the enemy, trudge into exile.
6 All beauty has drained from Daughter Zion’s face.
Her princes are like deer famished for food,
chased to exhaustion by hunters.
7 Jerusalem remembers the day she lost everything,
when her people fell into enemy hands, and not a soul there to help.
Enemies looked on and laughed, laughed at her helpless silence.
8 Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast.
All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface.
Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame.
9 She played fast and loose with life, she never considered tomorrow,
and now she’s crashed royally, with no one to hold her hand:
“Look at my pain, O God! And how the enemy cruelly struts.”
10 The enemy reached out to take all her favorite things. She watched
as pagans barged into her Sanctuary, those very people for whom
you posted orders: keep out: this assembly off-limits.
11 All the people groaned, so desperate for food, so desperate to stay alive
that they bartered their favorite things for a bit of breakfast:
“O God, look at me! Worthless, cheap, abject!
12 “And you passersby, look at me! Have you ever seen anything like this?
Ever seen pain like my pain, seen what he did to me,
what God did to me in his rage?
13 “He struck me with lightning, skewered me from head to foot,
then he set traps all around so I could hardly move.
He left me with nothing—left me sick, and sick of living.
14 “He wove my sins into a rope
and harnessed me to captivity’s yoke.
I’m goaded by cruel taskmasters.
15 “The Master piled up my best soldiers in a heap,
then called in thugs to break their fine young necks.
The Master crushed the life out of fair virgin Judah.
16 “For all this I weep, weep buckets of tears,
and not a soul within miles around cares for my soul.
My children are wasted, my enemy got his way.”
17 Zion reached out for help, but no one helped.
God ordered Jacob’s enemies to surround him,
and now no one wants anything to do with Jerusalem.
18 “God has right on his side. I’m the one who did wrong.
Listen everybody! Look at what I’m going through!
My fair young women, my fine young men, all herded into exile!
19 “I called to my friends; they betrayed me.
My priests and my leaders only looked after themselves,
trying but failing to save their own skins.
20 “O God, look at the trouble I’m in! My stomach in knots,
my heart wrecked by a life of rebellion.
Massacres in the streets, starvation in the houses.
21 “Oh, listen to my groans. No one listens, no one cares.
When my enemies heard of the trouble you gave me, they cheered.
Bring on Judgment Day! Let them get what I got!
22 “Take a good look at their evil ways and give it to them!
Give them what you gave me for my sins.
Groaning in pain, body and soul, I’ve had all I can take.”
God Walked Away from His Holy Temple
2 Oh, oh, oh . . .
How the Master has cut down Daughter Zion
from the skies, dashed Israel’s glorious city to earth,
in his anger treated his favorite as throwaway junk.
2 The Master, without a second thought, took Israel in one gulp.
Raging, he smashed Judah’s defenses,
ground her king and princes to a pulp.
3 His anger blazing, he knocked Israel flat,
broke Israel’s arm and turned his back just as the enemy approached,
came on Jacob like a wildfire from every direction.
4 Like an enemy, he aimed his bow, bared his sword,
and killed our young men, our pride and joy.
His anger, like fire, burned down the homes in Zion.
5 The Master became the enemy. He had Israel for supper.
He chewed up and spit out all the defenses.
He left Daughter Judah moaning and groaning.
6 He plowed up his old trysting place, trashed his favorite rendezvous.
God wiped out Zion’s memories of feast days and Sabbaths,
angrily sacked king and priest alike.
7 God abandoned his altar, walked away from his holy Temple
and turned the fortifications over to the enemy.
As they cheered in God’s Temple, you’d have thought it was a feast day!
8 God drew up plans to tear down the walls of Daughter Zion.
He assembled his crew, set to work and went at it.
Total demolition! The stones wept!
9 Her city gates, iron bars and all, disappeared in the rubble:
her kings and princes off to exile—no one left to instruct or lead;
her prophets useless—they neither saw nor heard anything from God.
10 The elders of Daughter Zion sit silent on the ground.
They throw dust on their heads, dress in rough penitential burlap—
the young virgins of Jerusalem, their faces creased with the dirt.
11 My eyes are blind with tears, my stomach in a knot.
My insides have turned to jelly over my people’s fate.
Babies and children are fainting all over the place,
12 Calling to their mothers, “I’m hungry! I’m thirsty!”
then fainting like dying soldiers in the streets,
breathing their last in their mothers’ laps.
13 How can I understand your plight, dear Jerusalem?
What can I say to give you comfort, dear Zion?
Who can put you together again? This bust-up is past understanding.
14 Your prophets courted you with sweet talk.
They didn’t face you with your sin so that you could repent.
Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions.
15 Astonished, passersby can’t believe what they see.
They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem.
Is this the city voted “Most Beautiful” and “Best Place to Live”?
16 But now your enemies gape, slack-jawed.
Then they rub their hands in glee: “We’ve got them!
We’ve been waiting for this! Here it is!”
17 God did carry out, item by item, exactly what he said he’d do.
He always said he’d do this. Now he’s done it—torn the place down.
He’s let your enemies walk all over you, declared them world champions!
18 Give out heart-cries to the Master, dear repentant Zion.
Let the tears roll like a river, day and night,
and keep at it—no time-outs. Keep those tears flowing!
19 As each night watch begins, get up and cry out in prayer.
Pour your heart out face-to-face with the Master.
Lift high your hands. Beg for the lives of your children
who are starving to death out on the streets.
20 “Look at us, God. Think it over. Have you ever treated anyone like this?
Should women eat their own babies, the very children they raised?
Should priests and prophets be murdered in the Master’s own Sanctuary?
21 “Boys and old men lie in the gutters of the streets,
my young men and women killed in their prime.
Angry, you killed them in cold blood, cut them down without mercy.
22 “You invited, like friends to a party, men to swoop down in attack
so that on the big day of God’s wrath no one would get away.
The children I loved and reared—gone, gone, gone.”
God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness
3 1-3 I’m the man who has seen trouble,
trouble coming from the lash of God’s anger.
He took me by the hand and walked me
into pitch-black darkness.
Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand
over and over and over again.
4-6 He turned me into a skeleton
of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,
poured on the trouble and hard times.
He locked me up in deep darkness,
like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
7-9 He shuts me in so I’ll never get out,
handcuffs my wrists, shackles my feet.
Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
He sets up blockades with quarried limestone.
He’s got me cornered.
10-12 He’s a prowling bear tracking me down,
a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces.
When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
He took out his bow and arrows
and used me for target practice.
13-15 He shot me in the stomach
with arrows from his quiver.
Everyone took me for a joke,
made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat,
bloated me with vile drinks.
16-18 He ground my face into the gravel.
He pounded me into the mud.
I gave up on life altogether.
I’ve forgotten what the good life is like.
I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished.
God is a lost cause.”
It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19-21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
to stick it out through the hard times.
28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The “worst” is never the worst.
31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:
34-36 Stomping down hard
on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
the Master does not approve of such things.
God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
37-39 Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?
It’s the Master who gives such orders.
Doesn’t the High God speak everything,
good things and hard things alike, into being?
And why would anyone gifted with life
complain when punished for sin?
40-42 Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living
and reorder our lives under God.
Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,
praying to God in heaven:
“We’ve been contrary and willful,
and you haven’t forgiven.
43-45 “You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back.
You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds
so no prayers could get through.
You treated us like dirty dishwater,
threw us out in the backyard of the nations.
46-48 “Our enemies shout abuse,
their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
We’ve been to hell and back.
We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
Rivers of tears pour from my eyes
at the smashup of my dear people.
49-51 “The tears stream from my eyes,
an artesian well of tears,
Until you, God, look down from on high,
look and see my tears.
When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,
the pain breaks my heart.
52-54 “Enemies with no reason to be enemies
hunted me down like a bird.
They threw me into a pit,
then pelted me with stones.
Then the rains came and filled the pit.
The water rose over my head. I said, ‘It’s all over.’
55-57 “I called out your name, O God,
called from the bottom of the pit.
You listened when I called out, ‘Don’t shut your ears!
Get me out of here! Save me!’
You came close when I called out.
You said, ‘It’s going to be all right.’
58-60 “You took my side, Master;
you brought me back alive!
God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me.
Give me my day in court!
Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes,
their plots to destroy me.
61-63 “You heard, God, their vicious gossip,
their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief,
hatching malice, day after day after day.
Sitting down or standing up—just look at them!—
they mock me with vulgar doggerel.
64-66 “Make them pay for what they’ve done, God.
Give them their just deserts.
Break their miserable hearts!
Damn their eyes!
Get good and angry. Hunt them down.
Make a total demolition here under your heaven!”
Waking Up with Nothing
4 Oh, oh, oh . . .
How gold is treated like dirt,
the finest gold thrown out with the garbage,
Priceless jewels scattered all over,
jewels loose in the gutters.
2 And the people of Zion, once prized,
far surpassing their weight in gold,
Are now treated like cheap pottery,
like everyday pots and bowls mass-produced by a potter.
3 Even wild jackals nurture their babies,
give them their breasts to suckle.
But my people have turned cruel to their babies,
like an ostrich in the wilderness.
4 Babies have nothing to drink.
Their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths.
Little children ask for bread
but no one gives them so much as a crust.
5 People used to the finest cuisine
forage for food in the streets.
People used to the latest in fashions
pick through the trash for something to wear.
6 The evil guilt of my dear people
was worse than the sin of Sodom—
The city was destroyed in a flash,
and no one around to help.
7 The splendid and sacred nobles
once glowed with health.
Their bodies were robust and ruddy,
their beards like carved stone.
8 But now they are smeared with soot,
unrecognizable in the street,
Their bones sticking out,
their skin dried out like old leather.
9 Better to have been killed in battle
than killed by starvation.
Better to have died of battle wounds
than to slowly starve to death.
10 Nice and kindly women
boiled their own children for supper.
This was the only food in town
when my dear people were broken.
11 God let all his anger loose, held nothing back.
He poured out his raging wrath.
He set a fire in Zion
that burned it to the ground.
12 The kings of the earth couldn’t believe it.
World rulers were in shock,
Watching old enemies march in big as you please,
right through Jerusalem’s gates.
13 Because of the sins of her prophets
and the evil of her priests,
Who exploited good and trusting people,
robbing them of their lives,
14 These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets,
grimy and stained from their dirty lives,
Wasted by their wasted lives,
shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags.
15 People yell at them, “Get out of here, dirty old men!
Get lost, don’t touch us, don’t infect us!”
They have to leave town. They wander off.
Nobody wants them to stay here.
Everyone knows, wherever they wander,
that they’ve been kicked out of their own hometown.
16 God himself scattered them.
No longer does he look out for them.
He has nothing to do with the priests;
he cares nothing for the elders.
17 We watched and watched,
wore our eyes out looking for help. And nothing.
We mounted our lookouts and looked
for the help that never showed up.
18 They tracked us down, those hunters.
It wasn’t safe to go out in the street.
Our end was near, our days numbered.
We were doomed.
19 They came after us faster than eagles in flight,
pressed us hard in the mountains, ambushed us in the desert.
20 Our king, our life’s breath, the anointed of God,
was caught in their traps—
Our king under whose protection
we always said we’d live.
21 Celebrate while you can, O Edom!
Live it up in Uz!
For it won’t be long before you drink this cup, too.
You’ll find out what it’s like to drink God’s wrath,
Get drunk on God’s wrath
and wake up with nothing, stripped naked.
22 And that’s it for you, Zion. The punishment’s complete.
You won’t have to go through this exile again.
But Edom, your time is coming:
He’ll punish your evil life, put all your sins on display.
Give Us a Fresh Start
5 1-22 “Remember, God, all we’ve been through.
Study our plight, the black mark we’ve made in history.
Our precious land has been given to outsiders,
our homes to strangers.
Orphans we are, not a father in sight,
and our mothers no better than widows.
We have to pay to drink our own water.
Even our firewood comes at a price.
We’re nothing but slaves, bullied and bowed,
worn out and without any rest.
We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt
just to get something to eat.
Our parents sinned and are no more,
and now we’re paying for the wrongs they did.
Slaves rule over us;
there’s no escape from their grip.
We risk our lives to gather food
in the bandit-infested desert.
Our skin has turned black as an oven,
dried out like old leather from the famine.
Our wives were raped in the streets in Zion,
and our virgins in the cities of Judah.
They hanged our princes by their hands,
dishonored our elders.
Strapping young men were put to women’s work,
mere boys forced to do men’s work.
The city gate is empty of wise elders.
Music from the young is heard no more.
All the joy is gone from our hearts.
Our dances have turned into dirges.
The crown of glory has toppled from our head.
Woe! Woe! Would that we’d never sinned!
Because of all this we’re heartsick;
we can’t see through the tears.
On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined,
jackals pace and prowl.
And yet, God, you’re sovereign still,
your throne intact and eternal.
So why do you keep forgetting us?
Why dump us and leave us like this?
Bring us back to you, God—we’re ready to come back.
Give us a fresh start.
As it is, you’ve cruelly disowned us.
You’ve been so very angry with us.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson