 Chapter 1
And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and
Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremias sat weeping, and lamented with
this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said,
1:1 ALEPH. How does the city that was
filled with people sit solitary! she is become as a widow: she that was
magnified among the nations, and princess among the provinces, has become
tributary.
2 BETH. She weeps sore in the night, and
her tears are on her cheeks; and there is none of all her lovers to comfort her:
all that were her friends have dealt deceitfully with her, they are become her
enemies.
3 GIMEL. Judea is gone into captivity by
reason of her affliction, and by reason of the abundance of her servitude: she
dwells among the nations, she has not found rest: all her pursuers have
overtaken her between her oppressors.
4 DALETH. The ways of Sion mourn,
because there are none that come to the feast: all her gates are ruined: her
priests groan, her virgins are led captive, and she is in bitterness in herself.
5 HE. Her oppressors are become the
head, and her enemies have prospered; for the Lord has afflicted her because of
the multitude of her sins: her young children are gone into captivity before the
face of the oppressor.
6 VAU. And all her beauty has been taken
away from the daughter of Sion: her princes were as rams finding no pasture, and
are gone away in weakness before the face of the pursuer.
7 ZAIN. Jerusalem remembered the days of
her affliction, and her rejection; she thought on all her desirable
things which were from the days of old, when her people fell into the hands of
the oppressor, and there was none to help her: when her enemies saw it
they laughed at her habitation.
8 HETH. Jerusalem has sinned a great
sin; therefore has she come into tribulation, all that used to honour her have
afflicted her, for they have seen her shame: yea, she herself groaned, and
turned backward.
9 TETH. Her uncleanness is before her
feet; she remembered not her last end; she has lowered her boasting tone,
there is none to comfort her. Behold, O Lord, my affliction: for the enemy has
magnified himself.
10 JOD. The oppressor has stretched out
his hand on all her desirable things: for she has seen the Gentiles entering
into her sanctuary, concerning whom thou didst command that they should
not enter into thy congregation.
11 CHAPH. All her people groan, seeking
bread: they have given their desirable things for meat, to restore their soul:
behold, Lord, and look; for she is become dishonoured.
12 LAMED. All ye that pass by the way,
turn, and see if there is sorrow like to my sorrow, which has happened to me.
The Lord who spoke by me has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
13 MEM. He has sent fire from his lofty
habitation, he has brought it into my bones: he has spread a net for my feet, he
has turned me back: he has made me desolate and mourning all the day.
14 NUN. He has watched over my sins,
they are twined about my hands, they have come up on my neck: my strength has
failed; for the Lord has laid pains on my hands, I shall not be able to stand.
15 SAMECH. The Lord has cut off all my
strong men from the midst of me: he has summoned against me a time for crushing
my choice men: the Lord has trodden a wine-press for the virgin daughter of Juda:
for these things I weep.
16 AIN. Mine eye has poured out water,
because he that should comfort me, that should restore my soul, has been removed
far from me: my sons have been destroyed, because the enemy has prevailed.
17 PHE. Sion has spread out her hand,
and there is none to comfort her: the Lord has commanded concerning
Jacob, his oppressors are round about him: Jerusalem has become among them as a
removed woman.
18 TSADE. The Lord is righteous; for I
have provoked his mouth: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my grief: my
virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
19 KOPH. I called my lovers, but they
deceived me: my priests and my elders failed in the city; for they sought meat
that they might restore their souls, and found it not.
20 RHECHS. Behold, O Lord; for I am
afflicted: my belly is troubled, and my heart is turned within me; for I have
been grievously rebellious: abroad the sword has bereaved me, even as death at
home.
21 CHSEN. Hear, I pray you, for I groan:
there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of mine
afflictions, and rejoice because thou hast done it: thou hast brought on
the day, thou hast called the time: they are become like to me.
22 THAU. Let all their wickedness come
before thy face; and strip them, as they have made a gleaning for all my sins:
for my groans are many, and my heart is grieved.
Chapter 2
2:1 ALEPH. How has the Lord darkened in
his wrath the daughter of Sion! he has cast down the glory of Israel from heaven
to earth, and has not remembered his footstool.
2 BETH. In the day of his wrath the Lord
has overwhelmed her as in the sea, and not spared: he has brought
down in his fury all the beautiful things of Jacob; he has brought down to the
ground the strong-holds of the daughter of Juda; he has profaned her kings and
her princes.
3 GIMEL. He has broken in his fierce
anger all the horn of Israel: he has turned back his right hand from the face of
the enemy, and has kindled a flame in Jacob as a fire, and it has devoured all
things round about.
4 DALETH. He has bent his bow as an
opposing enemy: he has strengthened his right hand as an adversary, and has
destroyed all the desirable things of my eyes in the tabernacle of the daughter
of Sion: he has poured forth his anger as fire.
5 HE. The Lord is become as an enemy: he
has overwhelmed Israel as in the sea, he has overwhelmed her palaces: he has
destroyed her strong-holds, and has multiplied the afflicted and humbled ones to
the daughter of Juda.
6 VAU. And he has scattered his
tabernacle as a vine, he has marred his feast: the Lord has forgotten the feast
and the sabbath which he appointed in Sion, and in the fury of his wrath has
vexed the king, and priest, and prince.
7 ZAIN. The Lord has rejected his altar,
he has cast off his sanctuary, he has broken by the hand of the enemy the wall
of her palaces; they have uttered their voice in the house of the Lord as on a
feast day.
8 HETH. And he has turned to destroy the
wall of the daughter of Sion: he has stretched out the measuring line, he has
not turned back his hand from afflicting her: therefore the bulwark
mourned, and the wall was weakened with it.
9 TETH. Her gates are sunk into the
ground: he has destroyed and broken to pieces her bars, and her king and
her prince among the Gentiles: there is no law, nay, her prophets have seen no
vision from the Lord.
10 JOD. The elders of the daughter of
Sion have sat upon the ground, they have kept silence: they have cast up dust
upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloths: they have brought
down to the ground the chief virgins in Jerusalem.
11 CHAPH. Mine eyes have failed with
tears, my heart is troubled, my glory is cast down to the ground, for the
destruction of the daughter of my people; while the infant and suckling swoon in
the streets of the city.
12 LAMED. They said to their mothers,
Where is corn and wine? while they fainted like wounded men in the streets of
the city, while their souls were poured out into their mother’s bosom.
13 MEM. What shall I testify to thee, or
what shall I compare to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? who shall save and
comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for the cup of thy destruction is
enlarged: who shall heal thee?
14 NUN. Thy prophets have seen for thee
vanities and folly: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn back
thy captivity; but they have seen for thee vain burdens, and worthless visions.
15 SAMECH. All that go by the way have
clapped their hands at thee; they have hissed and shaken their head at the
daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city, they say, the crown of joy of all the
earth?
16 AIN. All thine enemies have opened
their mouth against thee: they have hissed and gnashed their teeth, and said, We
have swallowed her up: moreover this is the day which we looked for; we have
found it, we have seen it.
17 PHE. The Lord has done that which he
purposed; he has accomplished his word, even the things which he
commanded from the ancient days: he has thrown down, and has not spared: and he
has caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, he has exalted the horn of him that
afflicted thee.
18 TSADE. Their heart cried to the Lord,
Ye walls of Sion, pour down tears like torrents day and night: give thyself no
rest; let not the apple of thine eyes cease.
19 KOPH. Arise, rejoice in the night at
the beginning of thy watch: pour out thy heart as water before the face of the
Lord; lift up thy hands to him for the life of thine infants, who faint for
hunger at the top of all the streets.
20 RHECHS. Behold, O Lord, and see for
whom thou has gathered thus. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? the
cook has made a gathering: shall the infants sucking at the breasts be slain?
wilt thou slay the priest and prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 CHSEN. The child and old man have
lain down in the street: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity:
thou hast slain them with the sword and with famine; in the day of thy
wrath thou hast mangled them, thou has not spared.
22 THAU. He has called my sojourners
round about to a solemn day, and there was not in the day of the wrath of the
Lord any one that escaped or was left; whereas I have strengthened and
multiplied all mine enemies.
Chapter 3
3:1 ALEPH. I am the man that sees
poverty, through the rod of his wrath upon me. 2
He has taken me, and led me away into darkness, and not into
light. 3 Nay, against me has he
turned his hand all the day. 4 He
has made old my flesh and my skin; he has broken my bones.
5 BETH. He has built against me, and
compassed my head, and brought travail upon me. 6
He has set me in dark places, as them that have long been
dead. 7 He has builded against me,
and I cannot come forth: he has made my brazen chain heavy.
8 GIMEL. Yea, though I cry and
shout, he shuts out my prayer.
9 DALETH. He has built up my ways, he
has hedged my paths; 10 he has
troubled me, as a she-bear lying in wait: he is to me as a lion in
secret places. 11 He pursued me
after I departed, and brought me to a stand: he has utterly ruined me.
12 HE. He has bent his bow, and set me
as a mark for the arrow. 13 He has
caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. 14
I became a laughing-stock to all my people; and their song
all the day.
15 VAU. He has filled me with
bitterness, he has drenched me with gall. 16
And he has dashed out my teeth with gravel, he has fed me with
ashes. 17 He has also removed my
soul from peace: I forgot prosperity. 18
Therefore my success has perished, and my hope from the Lord.
19 ZAIN. I remembered by reason of my
poverty, and because of persecution my bitterness and gall shall be remembered;
20 and my soul shall meditate with
me. 21 This will I lay up in my
heart, therefore I will endure.
22 HETH. It is the mercies of the
Lord, that he has not failed me, because his compassions are not exhausted. Pity
us, O Lord, early every month: for we are not brought to an end,
because his compassions are not exhausted. 23
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, says my
soul; therefore will I wait for him.
25 TETH. The Lord is good to them that
wait for him: the soul which shall seek him 26
is good, and shall wait for, and quietly expect salvation
of the Lord.
27 TETH. It is good for a man
when he bears a yoke in his youth. 28
He will sit alone, and be silent, because he has borne it
upon him.
29 30 JOD. He will give his cheek
to him that smites him: he will be filled full with reproaches.
31 For the Lord will not reject for ever.
32 CHAPH. For he that has brought down
will pity, and that according to the abundance of his mercy.
33 He has not answered in anger from
his heart, though he has brought low the children of a man.
34 LAMED. To bring down under his feet
all the prisoners of the earth, 35
to turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 to condemn a man unjustly in his
judgment, the Lord has not given commandment. 37
Who has thus spoken, and it has come to pass? the Lord has not
commanded it. 38 Out of the mouth of
the Most High there shall not come forth evil and good.
39 MEM. Why should a living man
complain, a man concerning his sin?
40 NUN. Our way has been searched out
and examined, and we will turn to the Lord. 41
Let us lift up our hearts with our hand to the lofty One
in heaven. 42 We have sinned, we
have transgressed; and thou hast not pardoned.
43 SAMECH. Thou has visited us in
wrath, and driven us away: thou has slain, thou has not pitied.
44 Thou hast veiled thyself with a cloud
because of prayer, that I might be blind, 45
and be cast off. AIN. Thou hast set us alone in the midst
of the nations. 46 All our enemies
have opened their mouth against us. 47
Fear and wrath are come upon us, suspense and destruction.
48 Mine eye shall pour down torrents of
water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 PHE. Mine eye is drowned with
tears, and I will not be silent, so that there shall be no rest,
50 until the Lord look down, and behold
from heaven. 51 Mine eye shall prey
upon my soul, because of all the daughters of the city.
52 TSADE. The fowlers chased me as a
sparrow, all mine enemies destroyed my life in a pit without cause,
53 and laid a stone upon me.
54 Water flowed over my head: I said, I am
cut off.
55 KOPH. I called upon thy name, O Lord,
out of the lowest dungeon. 56 Thou
heardest my voice: close not thine ears to my supplication.
57 Thou drewest nigh to my help: in the day
wherein I called upon thee thou saidst to me, Fear not.
58 RECHS. O Lord, thou has pleaded the
causes of my soul; thou has redeemed my life. 59
Thou hast seen, O Lord, my troubles: thou hast judged my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their
vengeance, thou hast looked on all their devices against me.
61 CHSEN. Thou hast heard their reproach
and all their devices against me; 62
the lips of them that rose up against me, and their plots against
me all the day; 63 their sitting
down and their rising up: look thou upon their eyes. 64
Thou wilt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to
the works of their hands.
65 THAU. Thou wilt give them as a
covering, the grief of my heart. 66
Thou wilt persecute them in anger, and wilt consume them from under the heaven,
O Lord.
Chapter 4
4:1 ALEPH. How will the gold be
tarnished, and the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been
poured forth at the top of all the streets.
2 BETH. The precious sons of Zion, who
were equalled in value with gold, how are they counted as earthen vessels, the
works of the hands of the potter!
3 GIMEL. Nay, serpents have drawn out
the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are
incurably cruel, as an ostrich in a desert.
4 DALETH. The tongue of the sucking
child cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for
bread, and there is none to break it to them.
5 HE. They that feed on dainties are
desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed
themselves with dung.
6 VAU. And the iniquity of the daughter
of my people has been increased beyond the iniquities of Sodoma, the city
that was overthrown very suddenly, and none laboured against her with their
hands.
7 ZAIN. Her Nazarites were made purer
than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were purified as with fire,
their polishing was superior to sapphire stone.
8 HETH. Their countenance is become
blacker than smoke; they are not known in the streets: their skin has cleaved to
their bones; they are withered, they are become as a stick.
9 TETH. The slain with the sword were
better than they that were slain with hunger: they have departed, pierced
through from want of the fruits of the field.
10 JOD. The hands of tender-hearted
women have sodden their own children: they became meat for them in the
destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 CHAPH. The Lord has accomplished his
wrath; he has poured out fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Sion, and it
has devoured her foundations.
12 LAMED. The kings of the earth,
even all that dwell in the world, believed not that an enemy and oppressor
would enter through the gates of Jerusalem.
13 MEM. For the sins of her prophets,
and iniquities of her priests, who shed righteous blood in the midst of her,
14 NUN. her watchmen staggered in the
streets, they were defiled with blood in their weakness, they touched their
raiment with it.
15 SAMECH. Depart ye from the unclean
ones: call ye them: depart, depart, touch them not: for they are on fire,
yea, they stagger: say ye among the nations, They shall no more sojourn there.
16 AIN. The presence of the Lord was
their portion; but he will not again look upon them: they regarded not
the person of the priests, they pitied not the prophets.
17 PHE. While we yet lived our eyes
failed, while we looked in vain for our help. TSADE. We looked to a nation that
could not save. 18 We have hunted
for our little ones, that they should not walk in our streets. KOPH. Our
time has drawn nigh, our days are fulfilled, our time is come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the
eagles of the sky, they flew on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait
for us.
20 RECHS. The breath of our nostrils,
our anointed Lord, was taken in their destructive snares, of whom we said,
In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.
21 CHSEN. Rejoice and be glad, O
daughter of Idumea, that dwellest in the land: yet the cup of the Lord shall
pass through to thee: thou shalt be drunken, and pour forth.
22 THAU. O daughter of Sion, thine
iniquity has come to an end; he shall no more carry thee captive: he has visited
thine iniquities, O daughter of Edom; he has discovered thy sins.
Chapter 5
5:1 Remember, O Lord, what has happened
to us: behold, and look on our reproach.
2 Our inheritance has been turned away
to aliens, our houses to strangers: 3
we are become orphans, we have no father, our mothers are as
widows. 4 We have drunk our water
for money; our wood is sold to us for a burden on our neck:
5 we have been persecuted, we have laboured,
we have had no rest.
6 Egypt gave the hand to us,
Assur to their own satisfaction. 7
Our fathers sinned, and are not: we have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us: there is
none to ransom us out of their hand. 9
We shall bring in our bread with danger of our lives,
because of the sword of the wilderness. 10
Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because
of the storms of famine. 11 They
humbled the women in Sion, the virgins in the cities of Juda.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hands:
the elders were not honoured. 13 The
chosen men lifted up the voice in weeping, and the youths fainted under
the wood. 14 And the elders ceased
from the gate, the chosen men ceased from their music. 15
The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance is turned into
mourning. 16 The crown has fallen
from our head: yea, woe to us! for we have sinned.
17 For this has grief come; our heart is
sorrowful: for this our eyes are darkened. 18
Over the mountain of Sion, because it is made desolate, foxes
have walked therein.
19 But thou, O Lord, shalt dwell for
ever; thy throne shall endure to generation and generation.
20 Wherefore wilt thou utterly forget us,
and abandon us a long time? 21 Turn
us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be turned; and renew our days as before.
22 For thou hast indeed rejected us;
thou hast been very wroth against us.
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