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:
among all
her lovers
she hath none
to comfort her:
all her friends
have dealt treacherously
with her,
they are become
her enemies.
Judah
is gone
into captivity
because
of affliction,
and
because
of great servitude:
she dwelleth among the heathen,
she findeth
no rest:
all her persecutors
overtook her
between the straits.
The ways of Zion
do mourn,
because none
come
to the solemn feasts:
all her gates
are desolate:
her priests sigh,
her virgins
are afflicted,
and
she is in bitterness.
Her adversaries
are the chief,
her enemies prosper;
for the LORD
hath afflicted her
for the multitude
of her transgressions:
her children
are gone
into captivity
before the enemy.
And
from the daughter
of Zion all
her beauty
is departed:
her princes
are become like
harts that find no pasture,
and
they are gone without strength
before the pursuer.
Jerusalem
remembered
in the days
of her affliction
and of her miseries all
her pleasant things
that she
had in the days
of old,
when her people
fell
into the hand
of the enemy,
and none
did help her:
the adversaries
saw her,
and did mock
at her sabbaths.
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;
therefore she
is removed:
all that
honoured
her
despise her,
because
they have seen
her nakedness:
yea,
she sigheth,
and turneth backward.
Her filthiness
is in her skirts;
she remembereth not
her last end;
therefore she
came
down wonderfully:
she had
no comforter.
O LORD,
behold my affliction:
for the enemy
hath magnified himself.
The adversary
hath spread out his hand
upon all
her pleasant things:
for she
hath seen that
the heathen entered
into her sanctuary,
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 meat
to relieve the soul:
see,
O LORD,
and consider;
for I
am become vile.
Is it nothing
to you,
all
ye that pass by?
behold,
and see
if there be
any sorrow like
unto my sorrow,
which is done unto me,
wherewith
the LORD
hath afflicted me
in the day
of his fierce anger.
From above
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 bound
by his hand:
they are wreathed,
and come up
upon my neck:
he hath made
my strength
to fall,
the LORD
hath delivered me
into their hands,
from whom
I am not able
to rise up.
The LORD
hath trodden
under foot all
my mighty men
in the midst of me:
he hath called
an assembly against me
to crush
my young men:
the LORD
hath trodden the virgin,
the daughter
of Judah,
as in a winepress.
For these things
I weep;
mine eye,
mine
eye
runneth down
with water,
because
the comforter
that
should relieve
my soul
is far
from me:
my children
are desolate,
because
the enemy prevailed.
Zion spreadeth forth her hands,
and there is none
to comfort her:
the LORD
hath commanded concerning Jacob,
that his adversaries
should be round
about him:
Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman
among them.
The LORD
is righteous;
for I have rebelled
against his commandment:
hear,
I pray you,
all people,
and behold
my sorrow:
my virgins
and my young men
are gone
into captivity.
I called for
my lovers,
but
they deceived me:
my priests
and mine elders
gave up
the ghost
in the city,
while they
sought
their meat
to relieve their souls.
Behold,
O LORD;
for I
am in distress:
my bowels
are troubled;
mine heart
is turned within me;
for I have grievously rebelled:
abroad
the sword bereaveth,
at home there is
as death.
They have heard that
I sigh:
there is none
to comfort me:
all mine enemies
have heard
of my trouble;
they are glad
that thou
hast done it:
thou wilt bring
the day
that thou
hast called,
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
the daughter
of Zion
with a cloud
in his anger,
and cast down
from heaven
unto the earth
the beauty
of Israel,
and remembered not
his footstool
in the day
of his anger!
The LORD
hath swallowed
up all the habitations
of Jacob,
and hath not pitied:
he hath thrown down
in his wrath
the strong holds
of the daughter
of Judah;
he hath brought
them down
to the ground:
he hath polluted
the kingdom
and the princes
thereof.
He hath cut off
in his fierce
anger all the horn
of Israel:
he hath drawn
back his right hand from
before the enemy,
and he
burned
against Jacob like
a flaming fire,
which devoureth round about.
He hath bent
his bow like an enemy:
he stood
with his right hand
as an adversary,
and slew all
that were pleasant
to the eye
in the tabernacle
of the daughter
of Zion:
he poured
out his fury like fire.
The LORD
was as an enemy:
he hath swallowed
up Israel,
he hath swallowed
up all
her palaces:
he hath destroyed
his strong holds,
and hath increased
in the daughter
of Judah
mourning
and lamentation.
And
he hath violently taken away
his tabernacle,
as if
it were of a garden:
he hath destroyed
his places
of the assembly:
the LORD
hath caused
the solemn feasts
and sabbaths
to be forgotten
in Zion,
and hath despised
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 feast.
The LORD
hath purposed
to destroy the wall
of the daughter
of Zion:
he hath stretched out
a line,
he hath not withdrawn
his hand
from destroying:
therefore he
made
the rampart
and the wall
to lament;
they languished together.
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;
her prophets
also find no vision
from the LORD.
The elders
of the daughter
of Zion sit
upon the ground,
and keep silence:
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,
my bowels
are troubled,
my liver
is poured
upon the earth,
for the destruction
of the daughter
of my people;
because
the children
and the sucklings
swoon
in the streets
of the city.
They say
to their mothers,
Where is corn
and wine?
when they
swooned
as the wounded
in the streets
of the city,
when their soul
was poured out
into their mothers' bosom.
What thing
shall
I take
to witness
for thee?
what thing
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 vain
and foolish things
for thee:
and
they have not discovered
thine iniquity,
to turn away thy captivity;
but have seen
for thee false burdens
and causes
of banishment.
All that pass
by clap
their hands
at thee;
they hiss
and wag
their head
at the daughter
of Jerusalem,
saying,
Is this
the city
that men
call The perfection
of beauty,
The joy
of the whole earth?
All thine enemies
have opened their mouth
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
had devised;
he hath fulfilled
his word
that he
had commanded
in the days
of old:
he hath thrown down,
and hath not pitied:
and
he hath caused
thine enemy
to rejoice
over thee,
he hath set up
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 rest;
let not the apple
of thine eye cease.
Arise,
cry out
in the night:
in the beginning
of the watches
pour
out thine 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
in the top
of every street.
Behold,
O LORD,
and consider
to whom
thou hast done this.
Shall
the women
eat their fruit,
and children
of a span long?
shall
the priest
and the prophet
be slain
in the sanctuary
of the Lord?
The young
and the old 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 killed,
and not pitied.
Thou hast called as
in a solemn day
my terrors round about,
so that
in the day
of the LORD's anger none escaped
nor remained:
those that
I have swaddled
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 brought me
into darkness,
but not into light.
Surely against me is
he turned;
he turneth his hand
against me all the day.
My flesh
and my skin
hath
he made old;
he hath broken
my bones.
He hath builded against me,
and compassed me
with gall and travail.
He hath set me
in dark places,
as they
that be dead
of old.
He hath hedged me about,
that I
cannot get out:
he hath made
my chain heavy.
Also when
I cry and shout,
he shutteth out my prayer.
He hath inclosed
my ways
with hewn stone,
he hath made
my paths crooked.
He was unto me
as a bear
lying
in wait,
and 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 was a derision
to all my people;
and their song all
the day.
He hath filled me
with bitterness,
he hath made me drunken
with wormwood.
He hath also broken
my teeth
with gravel stones,
he hath covered me
with ashes.
And
thou hast removed
my soul
far off
from peace:
I forgat prosperity.
And I said,
My strength
and my hope
is perished
from the LORD:
Remembering
mine affliction
and my misery,
the wormwood
and the gall.
My soul
hath them still
in remembrance,
and
is humbled in me.
This
I recall
to my mind,
therefore have
I hope.
It is of the LORD's mercies
that we
are not consumed,
because
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 both hope
and quietly wait
for the salvation
of the LORD.
It is good
for a man
that
he bear
the yoke
of his youth.
He sitteth alone
and keepeth silence,
because
he hath borne it
upon him.
He putteth his mouth
in the dust;
if so
be
there may be hope.
He giveth
his cheek
to him
that smiteth him:
he is filled full
with reproach.
For the LORD
will not cast off
for ever:
But
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 his feet 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 man
for the punishment
of his sins?
Let us
search
and try
our ways,
and turn again
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 persecuted us:
thou hast slain,
thou hast not pitied.
Thou hast covered thyself
with a cloud,
that our prayer
should not pass through.
Thou hast made us
as the offscouring
and refuse
in the midst
of the people.
All our enemies
have opened
their mouths
against us.
Fear
and a snare
is come upon us,
desolation
and destruction.
Mine
eye
runneth down
with rivers
of water
for the destruction
of the daughter
of my people.
Mine eye
trickleth down,
and ceaseth not,
without any intermission.
Till the LORD look down,
and behold
from heaven.
Mine
eye
affecteth mine heart
because
of all the daughters
of my city.
Mine enemies
chased me sore,
like a bird,
without cause.
They have cut off
my life
in the dungeon,
and cast
a stone
upon me.
Waters
flowed over mine head;
then I said,
I am cut off.
I called
upon thy name,
O LORD,
out of the low dungeon.
Thou hast heard
my voice:
hide
not thine ear
at my breathing,
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 imaginations
against me.
Thou hast heard
their reproach,
O LORD,
and all
their imaginations
against me;
The lips
of those
that rose up
against me,
and their device
against me all the day.
Behold their sitting down,
and their rising up;
I am their musick.
Render unto them a recompence,
O LORD,
according to
the work
of their hands.
Give them
sorrow of heart,
thy
curse unto them.
Persecute
and destroy them
in anger from
under the heavens
of the LORD.
How is
the gold
become dim!
how is
the most fine gold changed!
the stones
of the sanctuary
are poured out
in the top
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 sea monsters 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 no man
breaketh it
unto them.
They that
did feed
delicately are
desolate
in the streets:
they that
were brought up
in scarlet embrace dunghills.
For the punishment
of the iniquity
of the daughter
of my people
is greater than the punishment
of the sin
of Sodom,
that was overthrown as
in a moment,
and no
hands stayed on her.
Her Nazarites
were purer
than snow,
they were whiter
than milk,
they were more ruddy
in body
than rubies,
their polishing
was of sapphire:
Their visage
is blacker
than a coal;
they are not known
in the streets:
their skin
cleaveth to their bones;
it is withered,
it is become like
a stick.
They that
be slain
with the sword
are better
than
they that
be slain
with hunger:
for these pine away,
stricken through
for want
of the fruits
of the field.
The hands
of the pitiful women
have sodden
their own children:
they were their meat
in the destruction
of the daughter
of my people.
The LORD
hath accomplished
his fury;
he hath poured
out his fierce anger,
and hath kindled
a fire
in Zion,
and it
hath devoured
the foundations
thereof.
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.
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,
They have wandered
as blind men
in the streets,
they have polluted themselves
with blood,
so that men
could not touch
their garments.
They cried unto them,
Depart ye;
it is unclean;
depart,
depart,
touch not:
when
they fled away
and wandered,
they said
among the heathen,
They
shall
no more sojourn there.
The anger
of the LORD
hath divided them;
he will
no more
regard them:
they respected not the persons
of the priests,
they favoured not
the elders.
As for us,
our eyes
as yet failed
for our vain help:
in our watching
we have watched
for a nation
that could not save us.
They hunt
our steps,
that we
cannot go in
our streets:
our end is near,
our days
are fulfilled;
for our end
is come.
Our persecutors
are swifter
than the eagles
of the heaven:
they pursued us
upon the mountains,
they laid
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 heathen.
Rejoice and be glad,
O daughter
of Edom,
that dwellest in the land
of Uz;
the cup
also shall pass through
unto thee:
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 visit
thine iniquity,
O daughter
of Edom;
he will discover
thy sins.
Remember,
O LORD,
what is come upon us:
consider,
and behold
our reproach.
Our inheritance
is turned
to strangers,
our houses
to aliens.
We are orphans
and fatherless,
our mothers are as widows.
We have drunken
our water
for money;
our wood
is sold unto us.
Our necks
are under persecution:
we labour,
and have
no rest.
We have given
the hand
to the Egyptians,
and
to the Assyrians,
to be satisfied
with bread.
Our fathers
have sinned,
and are not;
and
we have borne
their iniquities.
Servants
have ruled over us:
there is none
that doth deliver us
out of their hand.
We gat
our bread
with the peril
of our lives
because of the sword
of the wilderness.
Our skin
was black like
an oven
because
of the terrible famine.
They ravished the women
in Zion,
and the maids
in the cities
of Judah.
Princes
are hanged up
by their hand:
the faces
of elders
were not honoured.
They took
the young men
to grind,
and the children
fell
under the wood.
The elders
have ceased
from the gate,
the young men
from their musick.
The joy
of our heart
is ceased;
our dance
is turned into mourning.
The crown
is fallen
from our head:
woe unto us,
that we
have sinned!
For this
our heart
is faint;
for these things
our eyes are dim.
Because of the mountain
of Zion,
which is desolate,
the foxes walk
upon it.
Thou,
O LORD,
remainest for ever;
thy throne
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.
But
thou hast utterly rejected us;
thou art very wroth
against us.