Chronological
37 Who is he then that saith, and it cometh to pass, and the Lord [a]commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not [b]evil and good?
39 Wherefore then is the living [c]man sorrowful? man suffereth for his sin.
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up [d]our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have sinned, and have rebelled, therefore thou hast not spared.
43 Thou hast covered us with wrath, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, and not spared.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the (A)offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.
47 Fear, and a snare is come upon us with desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye casteth out rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye droppeth without stay, and ceaseth not,
50 Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye [e]breaketh mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have shut up my life[f]in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head, then thought I, I am destroyed.
55 I called upon thy Name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: stop not thine ear from my sigh, and from my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidest, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast maintained the cause of my [g]soul, and hast redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong, judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, and all their devises against me:
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me.
62 The lips also of those that rose against me, and their whispering against me continually.
63 Behold, their sitting down, and their rising up, how I am their song.
64 (B)Give them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them [h]sorrow of heart even thy curse to them.
66 Persecute with wrath and destroy them from under the heaven, O Lord.
4 1 How is the [i]gold become so [j]dim? the most fine gold is changed, and the stones of the Sanctuary are scattered in the corner of every street.
2 The noble [k]men of Zion comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen [l]pitchers, even the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even the dragons [m]draw out the breasts, and give suck to their young: but the daughter of my people is become cruel like the [n]ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, but no man breaketh it unto them.
5 They that did feed delicately, perish in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet, embrace the dung.
6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is become greater than the sin of Sodom, that was (C)destroyed as in a moment, and [o]none pitched camps against her.
7 Her (D)Nazirites were purer than the snow, and whiter than the milk: they were more ruddy in body, than the red precious stones: they were like polished sapphire.
8 Now their [p]visage is blacker than a coal: they cannot know them in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones: it is withered like a stock.
9 They that be slain with the sword, are better than they that are killed with hunger: for they fade away as they were stricken through for the [q]fruits of the field.
10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children, which were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord hath accomplished his indignation: he hath poured out his fierce wrath, he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof.
12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem:
13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of [r]her.
14 They have wandered as blind men[s]in the streets, and they were polluted with blood, so that[t]they would not touch their garments.
15 But they cried unto them, Depart ye polluted, depart, depart, touch not: therefore they fled away, and wandered: they have said among the heathen, They shall no more dwell there.
16 The [u]anger of the Lord hath scattered them, he will no more regard them: [v]they reverenced not the face of the Priest, nor had compassion on the Elders.
17 While we waited for our vain help, our eyes failed: for in our waiting we looked for [w]a nation that could not save us.
18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.
19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, and laid wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The [x]breath of our nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their nets, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall be preserved alive among the heathen.
21 Rejoice and be glad, [y]O daughter Edom: that dwellest in the land of Uz, the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken [z]and vomit.
22 Thy punishment is accomplished, O daughter Zion: he [aa]will no more carry thee away into captivity, but he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter Edom, he will discover thy sins.
5 The prayer of Jeremiah.
1 Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: [ab]consider, and behold our reproach.
2 Our inheritance is turned to the strangers, our houses to the aliens.
3 We are fatherless, even without father, and our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunk our [ac]water for money, and our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution: we are weary, and have no rest.
6 We have given our [ad]hands to the Egyptians, and to Assyria, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not, and we have borne [ae]their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us, none would deliver us out of their hands.
9 We got our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword [af]of the wilderness.
10 Our skin was black like as an oven because of the terrible famine.
11 They defiled the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12 The princes are hanged up by [ag]their hand: the faces of the Elders were not had in honor.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under [ah]the wood.
14 The Elders have ceased from the [ai]gate and the young men from their songs.
15 The joy of our heart is gone, our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown of our head is fallen: woe now unto us, that we have sinned.
17 Therefore our heart is heavy for these things, our [aj]eyes are dim,
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: the foxes run upon it.
19 But thou, O Lord, remainest [ak]forever: thy throne is from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us forever, and forsake us so long time?
21 [al]Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned: renew our days as of old.
22 But thou hast utterly rejected us: thou art exceedingly angry against us.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.