Lamentations


1:1   {[This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the
successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.}   How deserted lies the city, 
          once so full of people! 
          How like a widow is she, 
          who once was great among the nations! 
          She who was queen among the provinces 
          has now become a slave.  
1:2       Bitterly she weeps at night, 
          tears are upon her cheeks. 
          Among all her lovers 
          there is none to comfort her. 
          All her friends have betrayed her; 
          they have become her enemies.  
1:3       After affliction and harsh labor, 
          Judah has gone into exile. 
          She dwells among the nations; 
          she finds no resting place. 
          All who pursue her have overtaken her 
          in the midst of her distress.  
1:4       The roads to Zion mourn, 
          for no one comes to her appointed feasts. 
          All her gateways are desolate, 
          her priests groan, 
          her maidens grieve, 
          and she is in bitter anguish.  
1:5       Her foes have become her masters; 
          her enemies are at ease. 
          The LORD has brought her grief 
          because of her many sins. 
          Her children have gone into exile, 
          captive before the foe.  
1:6       All the splendor has departed 
          from the Daughter of Zion. 
          Her princes are like deer 
          that find no pasture; 
          in weakness they have fled 
          before the pursuer.  
1:7       In the days of her affliction and wandering 
          Jerusalem remembers all the treasures 
          that were hers in days of old. 
          When her people fell into enemy hands, 
          there was no one to help her. 
          Her enemies looked at her 
          and laughed at her destruction.  
1:8       Jerusalem has sinned greatly 
          and so has become unclean. 
          All who honored her despise her, 
          for they have seen her nakedness; 
          she herself groans 
          and turns away.  
1:9       Her filthiness clung to her skirts; 
          she did not consider her future. 
          Her fall was astounding; 
          there was none to comfort her. 
          "Look, O LORD, on my affliction, 
          for the enemy has triumphed."  
1:10      The enemy laid hands 
          on all her treasures; 
          she saw pagan nations 
          enter her sanctuary-- 
          those you had forbidden 
          to enter your assembly.  
1:11      All her people groan 
          as they search for bread; 
          they barter their treasures for food 
          to keep themselves alive. 
          "Look, O LORD, and consider, 
          for I am despised."  
1:12      "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? 
          Look around and see. 
          Is any suffering like my suffering 
          that was inflicted on me, 
          that the LORD brought on me 
          in the day of his fierce anger?  
1:13      "From on high he sent fire, 
          sent it down into my bones. 
          He spread a net for my feet 
          and turned me back. 
          He made me desolate, 
          faint all the day long.  
1:14      "My sins have been bound into a yoke {[14] Most Hebrew
manuscripts; Septuagint <He kept watch over my sins>}; 
          by his hands they were woven together. 
          They have come upon my neck 
          and the Lord has sapped my strength. 
          He has handed me over 
          to those I cannot withstand.  
1:15      "The Lord has rejected 
          all the warriors in my midst; 
          he has summoned an army against me 
          to {[15] Or <has set a time for me 
           when he will>} crush my young men. 
          In his winepress the Lord has trampled 
          the Virgin Daughter of Judah.  
1:16      "This is why I weep 
          and my eyes overflow with tears. 
          No one is near to comfort me, 
          no one to restore my spirit. 
          My children are destitute 
          because the enemy has prevailed."  
1:17      Zion stretches out her hands, 
          but there is no one to comfort her. 
          The LORD has decreed for Jacob 
          that his neighbors become his foes; 
          Jerusalem has become 
          an unclean thing among them.  
1:18      "The LORD is righteous, 
          yet I rebelled against his command. 
          Listen, all you peoples; 
          look upon my suffering. 
          My young men and maidens 
          have gone into exile.  
1:19      "I called to my allies 
          but they betrayed me. 
          My priests and my elders 
          perished in the city 
          while they searched for food 
          to keep themselves alive.  
1:20      "See, O LORD, how distressed I am! 
          I am in torment within, 
          and in my heart I am disturbed, 
          for I have been most rebellious. 
          Outside, the sword bereaves; 
          inside, there is only death.  
1:21      "People have heard my groaning, 
          but there is no one to comfort me. 
          All my enemies have heard of my distress; 
          they rejoice at what you have done. 
          May you bring the day you have announced 
          so they may become like me.  
1:22      "Let all their wickedness come before you; 
          deal with them 
          as you have dealt with me 
          because of all my sins. 
          My groans are many 
          and my heart is faint."  

2:1   {[This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the
successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.}   How the Lord has covered the
Daughter of Zion 
          with the cloud of his anger {[1] Or <How the Lord in his anger 
           has treated the Daughter of Zion with contempt>}! 
          He has hurled down the splendor of Israel 
          from heaven to earth; 
          he has not remembered his footstool 
          in the day of his anger.  
2:2       Without pity the Lord has swallowed up 
          all the dwellings of Jacob; 
          in his wrath he has torn down 
          the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. 
          He has brought her kingdom and its princes 
          down to the ground in dishonor.  
2:3       In fierce anger he has cut off 
          every horn {[3] Or <
           all the strength>; or <every king>; <horn> here symbolizes
strength.} of Israel. 
          He has withdrawn his right hand 
          at the approach of the enemy. 
          He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire 
          that consumes everything around it.  
2:4       Like an enemy he has strung his bow; 
          his right hand is ready. 
          Like a foe he has slain 
          all who were pleasing to the eye; 
          he has poured out his wrath like fire 
          on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.  
2:5       The Lord is like an enemy; 
          he has swallowed up Israel. 
          He has swallowed up all her palaces 
          and destroyed her strongholds. 
          He has multiplied mourning and lamentation 
          for the Daughter of Judah.  
2:6       He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; 
          he has destroyed his place of meeting. 
          The LORD has made Zion forget 
          her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths; 
          in his fierce anger he has spurned 
          both king and priest.  
2:7       The Lord has rejected his altar 
          and abandoned his sanctuary. 
          He has handed over to the enemy 
          the walls of her palaces; 
          they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD 
          as on the day of an appointed feast.  
2:8       The LORD determined to tear down 
          the wall around the Daughter of Zion. 
          He stretched out a measuring line 
          and did not withhold his hand from destroying. 
          He made ramparts and walls lament; 
          together they wasted away.  
2:9       Her gates have sunk into the ground; 
          their bars he has broken and destroyed. 
          Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, 
          the law is no more, 
          and her prophets no longer find 
          visions from the LORD.  
2:10      The elders of the Daughter of Zion 
          sit on the ground in silence; 
          they have sprinkled dust on their heads 
          and put on sackcloth. 
          The young women of Jerusalem 
          have bowed their heads to the ground.  
2:11      My eyes fail from weeping, 
          I am in torment within, 
          my heart is poured out on the ground 
          because my people are destroyed, 
          because children and infants faint 
          in the streets of the city.  
2:12      They say to their mothers, 
          "Where is bread and wine?" 
          as they faint like wounded men 
          in the streets of the city, 
          as their lives ebb away 
          in their mothers' arms.  
2:13      What can I say for you? 
          With what can I compare you, 
          O Daughter of Jerusalem? 
          To what can I liken you, 
          that I may comfort you, 
          O Virgin Daughter of Zion? 
          Your wound is as deep as the sea. 
          Who can heal you?  
2:14      The visions of your prophets 
          were false and worthless; 
          they did not expose your sin 
          to ward off your captivity. 
          The oracles they gave you 
          were false and misleading.  
2:15      All who pass your way 
          clap their hands at you; 
          they scoff and shake their heads 
          at the Daughter of Jerusalem: 
          "Is this the city that was called 
          the perfection of beauty, 
          the joy of the whole earth?"  
2:16      All your enemies open their mouths 
          wide against you; 
          they scoff and gnash their teeth 
          and say, "We have swallowed her up. 
          This is the day we have waited for; 
          we have lived to see it."  
2:17      The LORD has done what he planned; 
          he has fulfilled his word, 
          which he decreed long ago. 
          He has overthrown you without pity, 
          he has let the enemy gloat over you, 
          he has exalted the horn {[17] <Horn> here symbolizes strength.} of
your foes.  
2:18      The hearts of the people 
          cry out to the Lord. 
          O wall of the Daughter of Zion, 
          let your tears flow like a river 
          day and night; 
          give yourself no relief, 
          your eyes no rest.  
2:19      Arise, cry out in the night, 
          as the watches of the night begin; 
          pour out your heart like water 
          in the presence of the Lord. 
          Lift up your hands to him 
          for the lives of your children, 
          who faint from hunger 
          at the head of every street.  
2:20      "Look, O LORD, and consider: 
          Whom have you ever treated like this? 
          Should women eat their offspring, 
          the children they have cared for? 
          Should priest and prophet be killed 
          in the sanctuary of the Lord?  
2:21      "Young and old lie together 
          in the dust of the streets; 
          my young men and maidens 
          have fallen by the sword. 
          You have slain them in the day of your anger; 
          you have slaughtered them without pity.  
2:22      "As you summon to a feast day, 
          so you summoned against me terrors on every side. 
          In the day of the LORD's anger 
          no one escaped or survived; 
          those I cared for and reared, 
          my enemy has destroyed."  

3:1   {[This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin
with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within
each stanza begin with the same letter.}   I am the man who has seen
affliction 
          by the rod of his wrath. 
3:2       He has driven me away and made me walk 
          in darkness rather than light; 
3:3       indeed, he has turned his hand against me 
          again and again, all day long.  
3:4       He has made my skin and my flesh grow old 
          and has broken my bones. 
3:5       He has besieged me and surrounded me 
          with bitterness and hardship. 
3:6       He has made me dwell in darkness 
          like those long dead.  
3:7       He has walled me in so I cannot escape; 
          he has weighed me down with chains. 
3:8       Even when I call out or cry for help, 
          he shuts out my prayer. 
3:9       He has barred my way with blocks of stone; 
          he has made my paths crooked.  
3:10      Like a bear lying in wait, 
          like a lion in hiding, 
3:11      he dragged me from the path and mangled me 
          and left me without help. 
3:12      He drew his bow 
          and made me the target for his arrows.  
3:13      He pierced my heart 
          with arrows from his quiver. 
3:14      I became the laughingstock of all my people; 
          they mock me in song all day long. 
3:15      He has filled me with bitter herbs 
          and sated me with gall.  
3:16      He has broken my teeth with gravel; 
          he has trampled me in the dust. 
3:17      I have been deprived of peace; 
          I have forgotten what prosperity is. 
3:18      So I say, "My splendor is gone 
          and all that I had hoped from the LORD."  
3:19      I remember my affliction and my wandering, 
          the bitterness and the gall. 
3:20      I well remember them, 
          and my soul is downcast within me. 
3:21      Yet this I call to mind 
          and therefore I have hope:  
3:22      Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, 
          for his compassions never fail. 
3:23      They are new every morning; 
          great is your faithfulness. 
3:24      I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; 
          therefore I will wait for him."  
3:25      The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, 
          to the one who seeks him; 
3:26      it is good to wait quietly 
          for the salvation of the LORD. 
3:27      It is good for a man to bear the yoke 
          while he is young.  
3:28      Let him sit alone in silence, 
          for the LORD has laid it on him. 
3:29      Let him bury his face in the dust-- 
          there may yet be hope. 
3:30      Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, 
          and let him be filled with disgrace.  
3:31      For men are not cast off 
          by the Lord forever. 
3:32      Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, 
          so great is his unfailing love. 
3:33      For he does not willingly bring affliction 
          or grief to the children of men.  
3:34      To crush underfoot 
          all prisoners in the land, 
3:35      to deny a man his rights 
          before the Most High, 
3:36      to deprive a man of justice-- 
          would not the Lord see such things?  
3:37      Who can speak and have it happen 
          if the Lord has not decreed it? 
3:38      Is it not from the mouth of the Most High 
          that both calamities and good things come? 
3:39      Why should any living man complain 
          when punished for his sins?  
3:40      Let us examine our ways and test them, 
          and let us return to the LORD. 
3:41      Let us lift up our hearts and our hands 
          to God in heaven, and say: 
3:42      "We have sinned and rebelled 
          and you have not forgiven.  
3:43      "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; 
          you have slain without pity. 
3:44      You have covered yourself with a cloud 
          so that no prayer can get through. 
3:45      You have made us scum and refuse 
          among the nations.  
3:46      "All our enemies have opened their mouths 
          wide against us. 
3:47      We have suffered terror and pitfalls, 
          ruin and destruction." 
3:48      Streams of tears flow from my eyes 
          because my people are destroyed.  
3:49      My eyes will flow unceasingly, 
          without relief, 
3:50      until the LORD looks down 
          from heaven and sees. 
3:51      What I see brings grief to my soul 
          because of all the women of my city.  
3:52      Those who were my enemies without cause 
          hunted me like a bird. 
3:53      They tried to end my life in a pit 
          and threw stones at me; 
3:54      the waters closed over my head, 
          and I thought I was about to be cut off.  
3:55      I called on your name, O LORD, 
          from the depths of the pit. 
3:56      You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears 
          to my cry for relief." 
3:57      You came near when I called you, 
          and you said, "Do not fear."  
3:58      O Lord, you took up my case; 
          you redeemed my life. 
3:59      You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. 
          Uphold my cause! 
3:60      You have seen the depth of their vengeance, 
          all their plots against me.  
3:61      O LORD, you have heard their insults, 
          all their plots against me-- 
3:62      what my enemies whisper and mutter 
          against me all day long. 
3:63      Look at them! Sitting or standing, 
          they mock me in their songs.  
3:64      Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, 
          for what their hands have done. 
3:65      Put a veil over their hearts, 
          and may your curse be on them! 
3:66      Pursue them in anger and destroy them 
          from under the heavens of the LORD.  

4:1   {[This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the
successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.}   How the gold has lost its
luster, 
          the fine gold become dull! 
          The sacred gems are scattered 
          at the head of every street.  
4:2       How the precious sons of Zion, 
          once worth their weight in gold, 
          are now considered as pots of clay, 
          the work of a potter's hands!  
4:3       Even jackals offer their breasts 
          to nurse their young, 
          but my people have become heartless 
          like ostriches in the desert.  
4:4       Because of thirst the infant's tongue 
          sticks to the roof of its mouth; 
          the children beg for bread, 
          but no one gives it to them.  
4:5       Those who once ate delicacies 
          are destitute in the streets. 
          Those nurtured in purple 
          now lie on ash heaps.  
4:6       The punishment of my people 
          is greater than that of Sodom, 
          which was overthrown in a moment 
          without a hand turned to help her.  
4:7       Their princes were brighter than snow 
          and whiter than milk, 
          their bodies more ruddy than rubies, 
          their appearance like sapphires. {[7] Or <lapis lazuli>}  
4:8       But now they are blacker than soot; 
          they are not recognized in the streets. 
          Their skin has shriveled on their bones; 
          it has become as dry as a stick.  
4:9       Those killed by the sword are better off 
          than those who die of famine; 
          racked with hunger, they waste away 
          for lack of food from the field.  
4:10      With their own hands compassionate women 
          have cooked their own children, 
          who became their food 
          when my people were destroyed.  
4:11      The LORD has given full vent to his wrath; 
          he has poured out his fierce anger. 
          He kindled a fire in Zion 
          that consumed her foundations.  
4:12      The kings of the earth did not believe, 
          nor did any of the world's people, 
          that enemies and foes could enter 
          the gates of Jerusalem.  
4:13      But it happened because of the sins of her prophets 
          and the iniquities of her priests, 
          who shed within her 
          the blood of the righteous.  
4:14      Now they grope through the streets 
          like men who are blind. 
          They are so defiled with blood 
          that no one dares to touch their garments.  
4:15      "Go away! You are unclean!" men cry to them. 
          "Away! Away! Don't touch us!" 
          When they flee and wander about, 
          people among the nations say, 
          "They can stay here no longer."  
4:16      The LORD himself has scattered them; 
          he no longer watches over them. 
          The priests are shown no honor, 
          the elders no favor.  
4:17      Moreover, our eyes failed, 
          looking in vain for help; 
          from our towers we watched 
          for a nation that could not save us.  
4:18      Men stalked us at every step, 
          so we could not walk in our streets. 
          Our end was near, our days were numbered, 
          for our end had come.  
4:19      Our pursuers were swifter 
          than eagles in the sky; 
          they chased us over the mountains 
          and lay in wait for us in the desert.  
4:20      The LORD's anointed, our very life breath, 
          was caught in their traps. 
          We thought that under his shadow 
          we would live among the nations.  
4:21      Rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, 
          you who live in the land of Uz. 
          But to you also the cup will be passed; 
          you will be drunk and stripped naked.  
4:22      O Daughter of Zion, your punishment will end; 
          he will not prolong your exile. 
          But, O Daughter of Edom, he will punish your sin 
          and expose your wickedness.  

5:1   Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us; 
          look, and see our disgrace. 
5:2       Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, 
          our homes to foreigners. 
5:3       We have become orphans and fatherless, 
          our mothers like widows. 
5:4       We must buy the water we drink; 
          our wood can be had only at a price. 
5:5       Those who pursue us are at our heels; 
          we are weary and find no rest. 
5:6       We submitted to Egypt and Assyria 
          to get enough bread. 
5:7       Our fathers sinned and are no more, 
          and we bear their punishment. 
5:8       Slaves rule over us, 
          and there is none to free us from their hands. 
5:9       We get our bread at the risk of our lives 
          because of the sword in the desert. 
5:10      Our skin is hot as an oven, 
          feverish from hunger. 
5:11      Women have been ravished in Zion, 
          and virgins in the towns of Judah. 
5:12      Princes have been hung up by their hands; 
          elders are shown no respect. 
5:13      Young men toil at the millstones; 
          boys stagger under loads of wood. 
5:14      The elders are gone from the city gate; 
          the young men have stopped their music. 
5:15      Joy is gone from our hearts; 
          our dancing has turned to mourning. 
5:16      The crown has fallen from our head. 
          Woe to us, for we have sinned! 
5:17      Because of this our hearts are faint, 
          because of these things our eyes grow dim 
5:18      for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, 
          with jackals prowling over it.  
5:19      You, O LORD, reign forever; 
          your throne endures from generation to generation. 
5:20      Why do you always forget us? 
          Why do you forsake us so long? 
5:21      Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; 
          renew our days as of old 
5:22      unless you have utterly rejected us 
          and are angry with us beyond measure. 
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