Lamentations, in an old foramt copyrights © 1997 revised 1998,1999, michael eashoo editor
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1. how lonely sits the City that was full of people, 2. she has become like a widow who was once great among the nations. 3. she who was a princess among the provinces, 4. she has become a forced laborer.
5. she weeps bitterly in the night, 6. her tears are on her cheeks. 7. she has none to comfort her among all her lovers, 8. all her friends have dealt treacherously by becoming her enemies.
9. Judah has gone into exile under affliction, 10. under harsh servitude she dwells among the nations. 11. she has found no rest, 12. all her pursuers overtook her in the midst of her distress.
13. the roads to Zion are in mourning, 14. because no one comes to the Appointed Feasts. 15. all her gates are desolate and her Priests are groaning, 16. her virgins are afflicted as she herself is bitter.
17. her adversaries have become her masters, 18. her enemies prosper for YHVH has caused her grief. 19. because of the multitude of her transgressions, 20. her little ones have gone away as captives before the adversary.
21. all her majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion, 22. her princes have become like bucks that have found no pasture. 23. they have fled without strength, 24. before the pursuer on the day of her affliction.
25. in homelessness Jerusalem remembers, 26. all her precious things from the days of old. 27. when her people fell into the hand of the adversary no one helped her, 28. the adversaries saw her and mocked at her ruin.
29. Jerusalem has sinned greatly, 30. therefore she has become an unclean thing. 31. all who honored her despise her, 32. because they have seen her nakedness.
33. even she herself groans and turns away from her uncleanness in her skirts, 34. for she did not consider her future. 35. therefore she has fallen, 36. astonishingly she has no comforter.
37. see YHVH my affliction for the enemy has magnified himself, 38. the adversary has stretched out his hand over all her precious things. 39. for she has seen the nations enter her Sanctuary, 40. the ones whom You Did Command should not enter into Your Congregation.
41. all her people groan seeking bread, 42. they have given their precious things for food. 43. restore their lives, 44. See YHVH Look i am despised.
45. is it nothing to all you who pass this way, 46. look and see if there is any pain like my pain. 47. that which was severely dealt out to me, 48. which YHVH inflicted on the Day of His Fierce Anger.
49. from on High He sent fire into my bones to prevail over them, 50. He has spread a net for my feet. 51. He has turned His Back making me desolate, 52. i faint all day long.
53. the yoke of my transgressions is bound by His Hand, 54. they are knit together having come upon my neck. 55. He made my strength fail, 56. LORD Gave me into hands of whom i am not able to withstand.
57. LORD has rejected all my strong men in my midst, 58. He has Called an appointed time against me. 59. crushing my young men, 60. LORD has trodden as in a wine press.
61. virgin daughter of Judah for these things i weep, 62. my eyes run down with water. 63. because far from me is my Comforter, 64. One Who restores my soul.
65. my children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed, 66. Zion stretches out her hands and there is no one to comfort her. 67. YHVH has Commanded concerning Jacob, 68. ones round about him should be his adversaries.
69. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them, 70. YHVH is Righteous for i have rebelled against His Command. 71. hear now all peoples, 72. behold my pain.
73. my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity, 74. i called to my lovers but they deceived me. 75. my priests and my elders perished in the City, 76. while they sought food to restore their strength.
77. See YHVH for i am in distress, 78. my spirit is greatly troubled. 79. my heart is overturned within me for they have been very rebellious, 80. in the street the sword slays and in the house it is like death.
81. they have heard my groan, 82. there is no one to comfort me. 83. all my enemies have heard of my calamity, 84. they are glad You have Done This.
85. oh that You would bring the Day which You have Proclaimed, 86. that they may become like me and let all their wickedness come before You. 87. deal with them as You have dealt with me, 88. for all my transgressions and groanings are so many my heart is faint.
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1. how the LORD has covered the daughter of Zion. 2. like a cloud His Anger was cast from heaven to earth. 3. the glory of Israel is not remembered as His Footstool. 4. in the Day of His Anger the LORD has swallowed us up.
5. He has not spared any throughout the habitations of Jacob. 6. in His Wrath He has thrown down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. 7. He has brought them down to the ground. 8. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
9. in His Fierce Anger He has cut off all the strength of Israel. 10. He has drawn back His Right Hand from before the enemy. 11. He has burned Jacob with a flaming fire. 12. consuming him round about.
13. He has bent His Bow like an enemy. 14. He has set His Right Hand like an adversary. 15. slain all pleasant to the eye in the tent of the daughter of Zion. 16. for He has poured out His Wrath like fire.
17. the LORD became like an enemy. 18. He swallowed up Israel swallowing up all its palaces. 19. He destroyed its strongholds. 20. multiplying in the daughter of Judah mourning and moaning.
21. He violently treated His Tabernacle like a garden booth. 22. He destroyed His Appointed Meeting Place. 23. YHVH has caused to be forgotten the Appointed Feasts and Sabbaths in Zion. 24. He has despised king and priest in the indignation of His Anger.
25. LORD has rejected His Altar. 26. He has abandoned His Sanctuary. 27. He has delivered into the hand of the enemy the Walls of her palaces. 28. they have made a noise in the House for YHVH like in the day of an Appointed Feast.
29. YHVH was determined to destroy the Wall of the daughter of Zion. 30. He stretched out a line and has not restrained His Hand from destroying. 31. He caused the rampart and the Wall to lament. 32. they have languished together.
33. her gates have sunk into the ground. 34. He has destroyed and broken her bars. 35. her king and her princes are among the nations for the Law is no more. 36. in turn her prophets find no visions from YHVH.
37. the Elders from the daughter of Zion sit on the ground. 38. they are silent and have thrown dust on their heads. 39. they girded themselves with sackcloth. 40. the virgins of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
41. my eyes fail because of my tears. 42. my spirit is greatly troubled for my heart is poured out on the earth. 43. for concern of the destruction of the daughter of my people. 44. the little ones and infants faint in the streets of the City.
45. they say to their mothers. 46. where is the grain and wine? 47. they faint like a wounded male in the streets of the City. 48. their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom.
49. how shall i admonish you? 50. to what shall i compare you daughter of Jerusalem? 51. to what shall i liken you as i comfort you virgin daughter of Zion? 52. for your ruin is as vast as the sea for who can heal you?
53. your prophets have seen false and foolish visions. 54. they have not exposed your iniquity. 55. nor restored you from captivity. 56. they have seen false and misleading oracles.
57. all who pass along the way clap their hands. 58. they hiss and shake their heads. 59. daughter of Jerusalem is this the City of which they said. 60. the Perfection of Beauty the Joy of all earth?
61. all your enemies have opened their mouths wide against you. 62. they hiss and gnash their teeth saying we have swallowed her up. 63. surely this is the day for which we waited. 64. we have reached it for we have seen it.
65. YHVH has Done what He Purposed. 66. He has Accomplished His Word which He Commanded from days of old. 67. He has thrown down without sparing causing the enemy to rejoice over you. 68. He has exalted the might of your adversaries.
69. our hearts cried out to LORD. 70. by the Wall of the daughter of Zion. 71. let your tears run down. 72. like a river day and night.
73. give yourself no relief. 74. let your eyes have no rest. 75. arise. 76. cry aloud in the night.
77. at the beginning of the night watches. 78. pour out your heart like water before the Presence of the LORD. 79. lift up your hands to Him for the life of your little ones who are faint. 80. because of hunger at the head of every street.
81. See YHVH. 82. Look at with whom have You have dealt thus. 83. should women eat their offspring for the little ones who were born healthy? 84. should Priest and Prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of the LORD?
85. on the ground in the streets lie young and old. 86. my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. 87. You have slain them in the day of Your Anger. 88. You have slaughtered not sparing any.
89. You Did Call as in the day of an Appointed Feast. 90. my terrors are on every side. 91. there was no one who escaped or survived the Day of YHVH's Anger. 92. those whom i bore and reared my enemy annihilated.
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1. i am a male who has seen affliction, 2. because of the Rod of His Wrath.
3. He drives marching me on, 4. to darkness not to the light.
5. surely against me He has turned His Hand, 6. repeatedly all the day.
7. He caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, 8. He has broken my bones.
9. He has besieged and encompassed me, 10. with this bitterness and hardship.
11. in dark places He has made me dwell, 12. like those who have long been dead.
13. He walled me in so i cannot go out, 14. He made my chain heavy.
15. even when i cry out calling for help, 16. He shuts out my prayer.
17. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone, 18. He has made my paths crooked.
19. He is to me like a bear lying in wait, 20. as a lion in secret places.
21. He has turned aside to my ways tearing me to pieces, 22. He has made me desolate.
23. He bent His Bow and set me as a target for the arrow, 24. He made the arrows of His Quiver to enter into my inward parts.
25. i have become a laughingstock to all people, 26. their mocking song all the day.
27. He filled me with bitterness, 28. He has made me drunk with wormwood.
29. He has broken my teeth with gravel, 30. He made me cower in the dust.
31. my soul has been rejected from peace, 32. i have forgotten happiness.
33. i say my strength has perished, 34. so has my hope from YHVH.
35. remember my affliction and my wandering, 36. this wormwood and bitterness.
37. surely my soul remembers, 38. it is bowed down within me.
39. this i recall in my mind, 40. therefore i have hope.
41. YHVH's Lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, 42. for His Compassions never fail.
43. they are new every morning, 44. Great is Your Faithfulness.
45. YHVH is my portion says my soul, 46. therefore i have hope in Him.
47. YHVH is Good to those who wait for Him, 48. to anyone who seeks Him.
49. it is good they wait silently for the Salvation YHVH, 50. it is good for a male to bear the yoke in his youth.
51. let him sit alone and be silent, 52. since He has laid it on him.
53. let him put his mouth in the dust, 54. perhaps there is hope.
55. let him give his cheek to the smiter, 56. let him be filled with reproach.
57. LORD will not reject forever, 58. if He causes the grief.
59. He will have Compassion, 60. according to His Abundant Lovingkindness.
61. for He does not afflict willingly, 62. or to grieve the sons of men.
63. or to crush under His Feet, 64. all the prisoners in the Land.
65. to deprive a male of justice, 66. in the Presence of the MOST HIGH.
67. to defraud a male in his lawsuit of these things, 68. LORD does not approve.
69. who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, 70. unless LORD has Commanded it?
71. is it not from the Mouth of the MOST HIGH that both good and ill go forth? 72. why should any living mortal or any male offer a complaint in view of his sins?
73. let us examine and probe our ways, 74. let us return to YHVH.
75. lift up our heart and hands toward the GOD in heaven, 76. our transgressing and rebellion will He not pardoned.
77. You have covered us with Your Anger, 78. pursuing us You have slain and have not spared.
79. You have covered Yourself with a cloud, 80. so that no prayer can pass through.
81. mere offscuffers and refuse You have made us in the midst of the peoples, 82. for all our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
83. panic and pitfall have befallen us, 84. devastation and destruction.
85. my eyes run down with streams of water, 86. because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
87. my eyes pour down unceasingly without stopping, 88. until YHVH Looks down and Sees from Heaven.
89. my eyes bring pain to my soul, 90. because of all the daughters from my City.
91. my enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird, 92. they have silenced me in the pit and have placed a stone on me.
93. for waters have flowed over my head, 94. i say i am cut off as i called on Your Name YHVH.
95. out of the lowest pit You have Heard my voice, 96. do not hide Your Ear as to relieve me from my cry for help.
97. You Did draw near when i called to You, 98. You Did Say do not fear.
99. LORD You Did plead my soul's cause, 100. You have Redeemed my life.
101. YHVH You have seen my oppression, 102. Judge my case.
103. You have seen all their vengeance, 104. all their schemes are against me.
105. You have heard their reproach YHVH, 106. all their schemes are against me.
107. the lips of my assailants, 108. they whisper against me all day long.
109. look on their sitting and their rising, 110. i am their mocking song.
111. repay them YHVH, 112. according to the work of their hands.
113. give them hardness of heart, 114. let Your Curse be on them.
115. pursue them in Anger, 116. destroy them from under the heavens YHVH.
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1. how dark the gold has become, 2. how the pure gold has changed. 3. the sacred stones are poured out, 4. at the corner of every street.
5. the precious sons from Zion, 6. weighed against fine gold. 7. how they are regarded as earthen jars, 8. as work from a potter's hands.
9. even jackals offer the breast, 10. they nurse their young. 11. but the daughters of my people have become cruel, 12. like ostriches in the wilderness.
13. the tongue of the infant, 14. cleaves to the roof of their mouth because of thirst. 15. the little ones ask for bread, 16. no one breaks it for them.
17. those who ate delicacies, 18. are desolate in the streets. 19. those reared in purple, 20. embrace the ash pits.
21. the iniquity of the daughters of my people, 22. it is greater than the sin of sodom. 23. overthrown in a moment, 24. for no hands were turned toward her.
25. my consecrated ones were purer than snow, 26. they were whiter than milk. 27. they were more ruddy in body than corals, 28. their polishing was like lapis lazuli.
29. now their appearance is blacker than soot, 30. they are not recognized in the streets. 31. their skin is shriveled on their bones, 32. it has withered becoming like wood.
33. better are those slain by the sword, 34. than those slain by hunger. 35. they pine away being stricken, 36. for the lack of fruits from the field.
37. the hands of compassionate women, 38. now boiled their own children. 39. they became food for them, 40. because of the destruction on the daughters of my people.
41. YHVH has Accomplished His Wrath, 42. He has poured out His Fierce Anger. 43. He has kindled a fire in Zion, 44. consuming its Foundations.
45. the kings of the earth did not believe, 46. nor did any of the inhabitants of the world. 47. that the adversary and the enemy, 48. enter the gates of Jerusalem.
49. because of the sins of her Prophets, 50. the iniquities of her Priests. 51. whom shed in her midst, 52. the blood of the righteous.
53. they wandered blind in the streets, 54. they were defiled with blood. 55. so no one could touch their garments, 56. depart unclean they cried of themselves.
57. depart depart, 58. do not touch. 59. so they fled wandering among the nations, 60. saying they shall not continue to dwell with us.
61. the Presence of YHVH has scattered them, 62. He will not continue to regard them. 63. they did not honor the priests, 64. nor did not favor the elders.
65. yet our eyes failed, 66. help was useless. 67. in our watching, 68. we have watched for a nation that could not save.
69. they hunted our steps, 70. so that we could not walk in our streets. 71. our end drew near, 72. our days were finished for our end had come.
73. our pursuers were swift, 74. like the eagles in the sky. 75. they chased us on the mountains, 76. they waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
77. by the breath of our nostrils, 78. YHVH's Anointed was captured in their pits. 79. whom we had said, 80. under His Shadow we shall live among the nations.
81. rejoice and be glad daughter of edom, 82. who dwells in the land of uz. 83. the cup will come around to you as well, 84. you will become drunk and make yourself naked.
85. our iniquity has been completed, 86. daughter of Zion He will exile you no longer. 87. He will punish you for your iniquity, 88. daughter of edom He will expose your sins.
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1. remember YHVH what has befallen us, 2. Look and See our reproach.
3. our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, 4. our houses to aliens.
5. we have become orphans without a father, 6. our mothers widows.
7. we pay for our drinking water, 8. wood comes to us at a price.
9. our pursuers are at our necks, 10. we are worn out for there is no rest for us.
11. we have submitted to egypt and assyria, 12. to get enough bread.
13. our fathers sinned and are no more, 14. it is we who have borne their iniquities.
15. slaves rule over us, 16. there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
17. we get our bread at the risk of our lives, 18. because of the sword in the wilderness.
19. our skin has become as hot as an oven, 20. because of the burning heat of famine.
21. they ravished the women of Zion, 22. the virgins in the cities of Judah.
23. princes were hung by their hands, 24. Elders were not respected.
25. young men are to work at the grinding mill, 26. our youths stumbled under loads of wood.
27. the Elders are gone from the gate, 28. young men from their music.
29. the joy of our hearts has ceased, 30. our dancing has been turned into mourning.
31. the crown has fallen from our head, 32. woe to us for we have sinned.
33. because of this our heart is faint, 34. because of these things our eyes are dim.
35. because Mount Zion which lies desolate, 36. the foxes now prowl in it.
37. You YHVH do Rule forever, 38. Your Throne is from generation to generation.
39. why do You Forget us forever? 40. why do You Forsake us so long?
41. restore us to You YHVH that we may be restored, 42. renew our days as of old.
43. unless You utterly have rejected us, 44. and are forever angry with us.