Lamentations:1-5

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* HOW DOTH the city sit solitary , that was full of people ! How is she become as a widow ! She that was great among the nations , and princess among the provinces , how is she become tributary ! * She weepeth sore in the night , and her tears are on her cheeks ; she hath none to comfort her among all her lovers ; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her , they are become her enemies . * Judah is gone into exile because of affliction , and because of great servitude ; she dwelleth among the nations , she findeth no rest ; all her pursuers overtook her within the straits . * The ways of Zion do mourn , because none come to the solemn assembly ; all her gates are desolate , her priests sigh ; her virgins are afflicted , and she herself is in bitterness . * Her adversaries are become the head , her enemies are at ease ; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions ; her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary . * And gone is from the daughter of Zion all her splendour ; her princes are become like harts that find no pasture , and they are gone without strength before the pursuer . * Jerusalem remembereth in the days of her affliction and of her anguish all her treasures that she had from the days of old ; now that her people fall by the hand of the adversary , and none doth help her , the adversaries have seen her , they have mocked at her desolations . * Jerusalem hath grievously sinned , therefore she is become as one unclean ; all that honoured her despise her , because they have seen her nakedness ; she herself also sigheth , and turneth backward . * Her filthiness was in her skirts , she was not mindful of her end ; therefore is she come down wonderfully , she hath no comforter . 'Behold , O LORD , my affliction , for the enemy hath magnified himself .' * The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her treasures ; for she hath seen that the heathen are entered into her sanctuary , concerning whom Thou didst command that they should not enter into Thy congregation . * All her people sigh , they seek bread ; they have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul . 'See , O LORD , and behold , how abject I am become .' * 'Let it not come unto you , all ye that pass by ! Behold , and see if there be any pain like unto my pain , which is done unto me , wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger . * From on high hath He sent fire into my bones , and it prevaileth against them ; He hath spread a net for my feet , He hath turned me back ; He hath made me desolate and faint all the day . * The yoke of my transgressions is impressed by His hand ; they are knit together , they are come up upon my neck ; He hath made my strength to fail ; the Lord hath delivered me into their hands , against whom I am not able to stand . * The Lord hath set at nought all my mighty men in the midst of me ; He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men ; the Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin the daughter of Judah .' * 'For these things I weep ; mine eye , mine eye runneth down with water ; because the comforter is far from me , even he that should refresh my soul ; my children are desolate , because the enemy hath prevailed .' * Zion spreadeth forth her hands ; there is none to comfort her ; the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob , that they that are round about him should be his adversaries ; Jerusalem is among them as one unclean . * 'The LORD is righteous ; for I have rebelled against His word ; hear , I pray you , all ye peoples , and behold my pain : my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity . * I called for my lovers , but they deceived me ; my priests and mine elders perished in the city , while they sought them food to refresh their souls . * Behold , O LORD , for I am in distress , mine inwards burn ; my heart is turned within me , for I have grievously rebelled . Abroad the sword bereaveth , at home there is the like of death . * They have heard that I sigh , there is none to comfort me ; all mine enemies have heard of my trouble , and are glad , for Thou hast done it ; Thou wilt bring the day that Thou hast proclaimed , and they shall be like unto me . * Let all their wickedness come before Thee ; and do unto them , as Thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions ; for my sighs are many and my heart is faint .' * How hath the Lord covered with a cloud the daughter of Zion in His anger ! He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel , and hath not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger . * The Lord hath swallowed up unsparingly all the habitations of Jacob ; He hath thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah ; He hath brought them down to the ground ; He hath profaned the kingdom and the princes thereof . * He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel ; He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy ; and He hath burned in Jacob like a flaming fire , which devoureth round about . * He hath bent His bow like an enemy , standing with His right hand as an adversary , and hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye ; in the tent of the daughter of Zion He hath poured out His fury like fire . * The Lord is become as an enemy , He hath swallowed up Israel ; He hath swallowed up all her palaces , He hath destroyed his strongholds ; and He hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and moaning . * And He hath stripped His tabernacle , as if it were a garden , He hath destroyed His place of assembly ; the LORD hath caused to be forgotten in Zion appointed season and sabbath , and hath rejected in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest . * The Lord hath cast off His altar , He hath abhorred His sanctuary , He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces ; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD , as in the day of a solemn assembly . * The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion ; He hath stretched out the line , He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying ; but He hath made the rampart and wall to mourn , they languish together . * Her gates are sunk into the ground ; He hath destroyed and broken her bars ; her king and her princes are among the nations , instruction is no more ; yea , her prophets find no vision from the LORD . * They sit upon the ground , and keep silence , the elders of the daughter of Zion ; they have cast up dust upon their heads , they have girded themselves with sackcloth ; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground . * Mine eyes do fail with tears , mine inwards burn , my liver is poured upon the earth , for the breach of the daughter of my people ; because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the broad places of the city . * They say to their mothers : 'Where is corn and wine ?' when they swoon as the wounded in the broad places of the city , when their soul is poured out into their mothers ' bosom . * What shall I take to witness for thee ? What shall I liken to thee , O daughter of Jerusalem ? What shall I equal to thee , that I may comfort thee , O virgin daughter of Zion ? For thy breach is great like the sea ; who can heal thee ? * Thy prophets have seen visions for thee of vanity and delusion ; and they have not uncovered thine iniquity , to bring back thy captivity ; but have prophesied for thee burdens of vanity and seduction . * All that pass by clap their hands at thee ; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem : 'Is this the city that men called the perfection of beauty , the joy of the whole earth ?' * All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee ; they hiss and gnash the teeth ; they say : 'We have swallowed her up ; certainly this is the day that we looked for ; we have found , we have seen it .' * The LORD hath done that which He devised ; He hath performed His word that He commanded in the days of old ; He hath thrown down unsparingly ; and He hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee , He hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries . * Their heart cried unto the Lord : 'O wall of the daughter of Zion , let tears run down like a river day and night ; give thyself no respite ; let not the apple of thine eye cease . * Arise , cry out in the night , at the beginning of the watches ; pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord ; lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children , that faint for hunger at the head of every street .' * 'See , O LORD , and consider , to whom Thou hast done thus ! Shall the women eat their fruit , the children that are dandled in the hands ? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord ? * The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets ; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword ; Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger ; Thou hast slaughtered unsparingly . * Thou hast called , as in the day of a solemn assembly , my terrors on every side , and there was none in the day of the LORD 'S anger that escaped or remained ; those that I have dandled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed .' * I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath . * He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness and not in light . * Surely against me He turneth His hand again and again all the day . * My flesh and my skin hath He worn out ; He hath broken my bones . * He hath builded against me , and compassed me with gall and travail . * He hath made me to dwell in dark places , as those that have been long dead . * He hath hedged me about , that I cannot go forth ; He hath made my chain heavy . * Yea , when I cry and call for help , He shutteth out my prayer . * He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone , He hath made my paths crooked . * He is unto me as a bear lying in wait , as a lion in secret places . * He hath turned aside my ways , and pulled me in pieces ; He hath made me desolate . * He hath bent His bow , and set me as a mark for the arrow . * He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins . * I am become a derision to all my people , and their song all the day . * He hath filled me with bitterness , He hath sated me with wormwood . * He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones , He hath made me to wallow in ashes . * And my soul is removed far off from peace , I forgot prosperity . * And I said : 'My strength is perished , and mine expectation from the LORD .' * Remember mine affliction and mine anguish , the wormwood and the gall . * My soul hath them still in remembrance , and is bowed down within me . * This I recall to my mind , therefore have I hope . * Surely the LORD 'S mercies are not consumed , surely His compassions fail not . * They are new every morning ; great is Thy faithfulness . * 'The LORD is my portion ', saith my soul ; 'Therefore will I hope in Him .' * The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him , to the soul that seeketh Him . * It is good that a man should quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD . * It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth . * Let him sit alone and keep silence , because He hath laid it upon him . * Let him put his mouth in the dust , if so be there may be hope . * Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him , let him be filled full with reproach . * For the Lord will not cast off for ever . * For though He cause grief , yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies . * For He doth not afflict willingly , nor grieve the children of men . * To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth , * To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High , * To subvert a man in his cause , the Lord approveth not . * Who is he that saith , and it cometh to pass , when the Lord commandeth it not ? * Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good ? * Wherefore doth a living man complain , a strong man because of his sins ? * Let us search and try our ways , and return to the LORD . * Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens . * We have transgressed and have rebelled ; Thou hast not pardoned . * Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us ; Thou hast slain unsparingly . * Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud , so that no prayer can pass through . * Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples . * All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us . * Terror and the pit are come upon us , desolation and destruction . * Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water , for the breach of the daughter of my people . * Mine eye is poured out , and ceaseth not , without any intermission , * Till the LORD look forth , and behold from heaven . * Mine eye affected my soul , because of all the daughters of my city . * They have chased me sore like a bird , that are mine enemies without cause . * They have cut off my life in the dungeon , and have cast stones upon me . * Waters flowed over my head ; I said : 'I am cut off .' * I called upon Thy name , O LORD , Out of the lowest dungeon . * Thou heardest my voice ; hide not Thine ear at my sighing , at my cry . * Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee ; Thou saidst : 'Fear not .' * O Lord , Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul ; Thou hast redeemed my life . * O LORD , Thou hast seen my wrong ; judge Thou my cause . * Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me . * Thou hast heard their taunt , O LORD , and all their devices against me ; * The lips of those that rose up against me , and their muttering against me all the day . * Behold Thou their sitting down , and their rising up ; I am their song . * Thou wilt render unto them a recompense , O LORD , according to the work of their hands . * Thou wilt give them hardness of heart , Thy curse unto them . * Thou wilt pursue them in anger , and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD . * How is the gold become dim ! How is the most fine gold changed ! The hallowed stones are poured out at the head of every street . * The precious sons of Zion , comparable to fine gold , how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers , the work of the hands of the potter ! * Even the jackals draw out the breast , they give suck to their young ones ; the daughter of my people is become cruel , like the ostriches in the wilderness . * The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst ; the young children ask bread , and none breaketh it unto them . * They that did feed on dainties are desolate in the streets ; they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills . * For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom , that was overthrown as in a moment , and no hands fell upon her . * Her princes were purer than snow , they were whiter than milk , they were more ruddy in body than rubies , their polishing was as of sapphire ; * Their visage is blacker than coal ; they are not known in the streets ; their skin is shrivelled upon their bones ; it is withered , it is become like a stick . * They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger ; for these pine away , stricken through , for want of the fruits of the field . * The hands of women full of compassion have sodden their own children ; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people . * The LORD hath accomplished His fury , He hath poured out His fierce anger ; and He hath kindled a fire in Zion , which hath devoured the foundations thereof . * The kings of the earth believed not , neither all the inhabitants of the world , that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem . * It is because of the sins of her prophets , and the iniquities of her priests , that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her . * They wander as blind men in the streets , they are polluted with blood , so that men cannot touch their garments . * 'Depart ye ! unclean !' men cried unto them , 'Depart , depart , touch not '; yea , they fled away and wandered ; men said among the nations : 'They shall no more sojourn here .' * The anger of the LORD hath divided them ; He will no more regard them ; they respected not the persons of the priests , they were not gracious unto the elders . * As for us , our eyes do yet fail for our vain help ; in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save . * They hunt our steps , that we cannot go in our broad places ; our end is near , our days are fulfilled ; for our end is come . * Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heaven ; they chased us upon the mountains , they lay in wait for us in the wilderness . * The breath of our nostrils , the anointed of the LORD , was taken in their pits ; of whom we said : 'Under his shadow we shall live among the nations .' * Rejoice and be glad , O daughter of Edom , that dwellest in the land of Uz : the cup shall pass over unto thee also ; thou shalt be drunken , and shalt make thyself naked . * The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished , O daughter of Zion , He will no more carry thee away into captivity ; He will punish thine iniquity , O daughter of Edom , He will uncover thy sins . * Remember , O LORD , what is come upon us ; behold , and see our reproach . * Our inheritance is turned unto strangers , our houses unto aliens . * We are become orphans and fatherless , our mothers are as widows . * We have drunk our water for money ; our wood cometh to us for price . * To our very necks we are pursued ; we labour , and have no rest . * We have given the hand to Egypt , and to Assyria , to have bread enough ; * Our fathers have sinned , and are not ; and we have borne their iniquities . * Servants rule over us ; there is none to deliver us out of their hand . * We get our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness . * Our skin is hot like an oven because of the burning heat of famine . * They have ravished the women in Zion , the maidens in the cities of Judah . * Princes are hanged up by their hand ; the faces of elders are not honoured . * The young men have borne the mill , and the children have stumbled under the wood . * The elders have ceased from the gate , the young men from their music . * The joy of our heart is ceased ; our dance is turned into mourning . * The crown is fallen from our head ; woe unto us ! for we have sinned . * For this our heart is faint , for these things our eyes are dim ; * For the mountain of Zion , which is desolate , the foxes walk upon it . * Thou , O LORD , art enthroned for ever , Thy throne is from generation to generation . * Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever , and forsake us so long time ? * Turn Thou us unto Thee , O LORD , and we shall be turned ; renew our days as of old . * Thou canst not have utterly rejected us , and be exceeding wroth against us !

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