The Lamentations of Jeremiah

(The Scriptures) The Lamentations of Jeremiah
Chap. Lookup: 1 2 3 4 5

1:1: ((Aleph.)) Alas, how sitteth the city so desolate, that some time was full of people? How is she become like a widow, which was the lady of all nations? How is she brought under tribute, that ruled all lands.
1:2: ((Beth.)) She weepeth sore in the night, so that the tears run down her cheeks: for among all her lovers, there is none that giveth her any comfort: yea her next friends abhor her, and are become her enemies.
1:3: ((Gimel.)) Judah is taken prisoner, because she was defiled: and for serving so many strange gods, she dwelleth now among the heathen. She findeth no rest: all they that persecuted her, took her, and so she dwelleth among her enemies.
1:4: ((Daleth.)) The streets of Sion mourn, because no man cometh to the solempne feasts. All her gates are desolate, her priests make lamentation, her maidens are careful, and she herself is in great heaviness.
1:5: ((He.)) Her enemies are fallen upon her head, and have put her to shame: because the LORD hath chastened her for her great wickedness: her children are lead away captive before their enemy.
1:6: ((Vau.)) All the beauty of the daughter of Sion is away, her princes are become like wethers that find no pasture. They are driven away before their enemy, so that they have no more power.
1:7: ((Zain.)) Now doth Jerusalem remember the time of her misery and disobedience, yea the joy and pleasure that she hath had in times past: seeing her people is brought down thorow the power of their enemy, and there is no man for to help her: her enemies stand_{stode} looking at her and laughing her Sabbath days to scorn.
1:8: ((CHeth.)) Jerusalem sinned ever more and more, therefore is she come in decay. All they that had her in honour, despise her: for they have seen her filthiness. Yea she sigheth, and is a shamed of herself.
1:9: ((Teth.)) Her skirts are defiled, she remembred not what would follow: therefore is her fall so great, and there is no man to comfort her. O LORD, consider my trouble, for my enemy hath the upper hand.
1:10: ((Iod.)) The enemy hath put his hand to all the precious things that she had, yea even before her eyes came the Heathen in and out of the Sanctuary: whom thou (nevertheless) hast forbidden to come within thy congregation.
1:11: ((Caph.)) All her people seek their bread with heaviness,_|heuynes| and look what precious things every man hath, that giveth he for meat, to save his life. Consider, O LORD, and see, how vile I am become.
1:12: ((Lamed.)) O ye all that go fore by, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto mine; wherewith the LORD hath troubled me, in the day of his fearful wrath.
1:13: ((Mem.)) From above hath he sent down a fire into my bones and chastened me: he hath laid a net for my feet, and thrown me wide open: he hath made me desolate, so that I must ever be mourning.
1:14: ((Nun.)) The yoke of my transgression is come at the last, with his hand hath he taken it up, and put it about my neck. My strength is gone: the Lord_|LORDE| hath delivered me into those hands, whereout I can not quite my self.
1:15: ((Samech.)) The Lord_|LORDE| hath destroyed all the mighty men, that were in me. He hath proclamed a feast, to slaughter all my best men. The Lord_|LORDE| hath troden down the daughter of Juda, like as it were in a wine press.
1:16: ((Ain.)) Therefore do I weep, and mine eyes gush out of water: for the comforter that should quicken me, is far from me. My children are driven away, for why? the enemy hath gotten the over hand.
1:17: ((Phe.)) Sion casteth out her hands, and there is no man to comfort her. The LORD hath laid the enemies round about Jacob, and Jerusalem is as it were a menstruous woman, in the middest of them.
1:18: ((Zade.)) The LORD is righteous, for I provoked his countenance unto anger. O take heed all ye people, and consider my heaviness: My maidens and my young men are lead away in to captivity.
1:19: ((Koph.)) I called for my lovers (but they beguiled me) for my Priests and counselors, but they perished: even while they sought for meat, to save their lives.
1:20: ((Res.)) Consider (O LORD) how I am troubled, my womb is disquieted, my heart turneth about in me, and I am full of heaviness. The sword hurteth me without, and within I am like unto death.
1:21: ((Sin.)) They hear my mourning, but there is none that will comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble, and are glad thereof, because thou hast done it. But thou shalt bring forth the time, when they also shall be like unto me.
1:22: ((Thau.)) From thee shall come all their adversity: thou shalt pluck them away, even as thou hast plucked me, because of all my wickedness. For my sorrow is very great, and my heart is heavy.

2:1: ((Aleph.)) Alas, how hath the Lord_|LORDE| darkened the daughter of Sion so sore in his wrath? As for the honour of Israel, he hath casten it down from heaven: How happeneth it, that he remembered not his own foot stool when he was angry?
2:2: ((Beth.)) The Lord_|LORDE| hath cast down all the glory of Jacob without any favour: all the strong places of the daughter Juda hath he broken in his wrath, and thrown them down to the ground: her kingdom and her princes hath he suspended.
2:3: ((Gimel.)) In the wrath of his indignation he hath broken all the horn of Israel: he hath withdrawn his right hand from the enemy: yea a flame of fire is kindled in Jacob, and hath consumed up all round about.
2:4: ((Daleth.)) He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath fastened his right hand as an adversary: and everything that was pleasant to see, he hath smitten it down. He hath poured out his wrath like a fire, into the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion.
2:5: ((He.)) The Lord_|LORDE| is become, like as it were an enemy, he hath cast down Israel and all his places: yea all his strongholds hath he destroyed, and filled the daughter of Juda with much sorrow and heaviness.
2:6: ((Vau.)) Her tabernacle (which was like a garden of pleasure) hath he destroyed: her high_|hie| solempne feasts hath he put down. The LORD hath brought it so to pass, that the high solempne feasts and Sabbaths in Sion, are clean forgotten. In his heavy displeasure hath he made the king and priests to be despised.
2:7: ((Zain.)) The Lord_|LORDE| hath forsaken his own alter, and is wroth with his own sanctuary, and hath given the walls of their towers into the hands of the enemy. Their enemies made a noise in the house of the LORD, as it had been in a solempne feast day.
2:8: ((CHeth.)) The LORD thought to break down the walls of the daughter Sion, he spread out his line, and drew not in his hand, till he had destroyed them. Therefore mourn the turrets and the broken walls together.
2:9: ((Teth.)) Her ports are cast down to the ground, her bars are broken and smitten in sunder: her king and princes are carried away to the gentiles. They have neither law nor Prophets, nor yet any vision from the LORD.
2:10: ((Iod.)) The Senators of the daughter Sion sit upon the ground in silence: they have strowed ashes upon their heads, and girded themselves with sack cloth. The maidens of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
2:11: ((Caph.)) Mine eyes begin to fail me thorow weeping, my body is disquieted, my lever is poured upon the earth, for the great hurt of my people, seeing the children and babes did swoon in the streets of the city.
2:12: ((Lamed.)) Even when they spake to their mothers: where is meat and drink? for while they so said, they fell down in the streets of the city, like as they had been wounded, and some died in their mothers' bosom.
2:13: ((Mem.)) What shall I say of thee, O thou daughter Jerusalem, to whom shall I liken thee? To whom shall I compare thee, O thou daughter Sion, to comfort thee withal? Thy hurt is like a main sea, who may heal thee?
2:14: ((Nun.)) Thy prophets have looked out vain and foolish things for thee, they have not shewed thee of thy wickedness, to keep thee from captivity: but have overladen thee, and thorow falsity scattered thee abroad.
2:15: ((Samech.)) All they that go by thee, clap their hands at thee: hissing and wagging their heads upon the daughter Jerusalem, and say: is this the city that men call so fair, wherein the whole land rejoiceth?
2:16: ((Ain.)) All thine enemies gape upon thee, whispering and biting their teeth, saying: let us devour, for the time that we looked for, is come: we have found and seen it.
2:17: ((Phe.)) The LORD hath fulfilled the thing, that he was purposed to do: and performed that he had devised long ago: he hath destroyed, and not spared. He hath caused thine adversary to triumph over thee, and set up the horn of thine enemy.
2:18: ((Zade.)) Let thine heart cry unto the Lord,_|LORDE| O thou city of the daughter Sion: let thy tears run down like a river day and night: rest not, and let not the apple of thine eye leave off.
2:19: ((Koph.)) Stand up and make thy prayer in the first watch of the night, pour out thine heart like water before the Lord:_|LORDE| lift up thine hands for the lives of thy young children, that die of hunger in the streets.
2:20: ((Res.)) Behold, O LORD,_{|O LORDE|} and consider, why hast thou gathered me up so clean: Shall the women then eat their own fruit, even children of a spanne long: Shall the priests and prophets be slain thus in the Sanctuary of the Lord?_|LORDE|
2:21: ((Sin.)) Young and old lie behind the streets upon the ground, my maidens and young men are slain with the sword: whom thou in the day of thy wrothful indignation hast put to death: Yea even thou hast put them to death, and not spared them.
2:22: ((Thau.)) My neighbours that are round about me, hast thou called, as it were to a feast day: so that in the day of the LORD's wrath none escaped, neither was any left behind. Those that I had brought up and nourished, hath mine enemy destroyed.

3:1: ((Aleph.)) I am the man, that (thorow the rod of his wrath) have experience of misery.
3:2: He drove me forth, and led me: yea into darkness, but not in to light.
3:3: Against me only he turneth his hand, and layeth it ever upon me.
3:4: ((Beth.)) My flesh and my skin hath he made old, my bones hath he bruised.
3:5: He hath builded round about me, and closed me in with gall and travail.
3:6: He hath set me in darkness, as they that be dead for ever.
3:7: ((Gimel.)) He hath so hedged me in, that I can not get out, and hath laid heavy links upon me.
3:8: Though I cry and call piteously, yet heareth he not my prayer.
3:9: He hath stopped up my ways with four square stones, and made my paths crooked.
3:10: ((Daleth.)) He layeth wait for me like a Bear, and as a lion in a hole.
3:11: He hath marred my ways, and broken me in pieces: he hath laid me waste altogether.
3:12: He hath bent his bow, and made me as it were a mark to shoot at.
3:13: ((He.)) The arrows of his quiver hath he shot, even into my reins.
3:14: I am laughed to scorn of all my people, they make songs upon me all the day long.
3:15: He hath filled me with bitterness, and given me wormwood to drink.
3:16: ((Vau.)) He hath smitten my teeth in pieces, and rolled me in the dust.
3:17: He hath put my soul out of rest, I forget all good things.
3:18: I thought in myself: I am undone, there is no hope for me in the LORD.
3:19: ((Zain.)) O remember yet my misery and my trouble, the wormwood and the gall.
3:20: Yea thou shalt remember them, for my soul melteth away in me.
3:21: While I consider these things in my heart, I get a hope again.
3:22: ((CHeth.)) Namely, that the mercies of the LORD are not clean gone, and that his loving-kindness ceaseth not.
3:23: His faithfulness is great and reneweth it self as the morning.
3:24: The LORD is my portion, sayeth my soul, therefore will I hope in him.
3:25: ((Teth.)) O how good is the LORD unto them that put their trust in him, and to the soul that seeketh after him?
3:26: O how good is it with stillness to wait and tarry, for the health of the LORD.
3:27: O how good is it for a man, to take the yoke upon him from his youth up.
3:28: ((Iod.)) He sitteth alone, he holdeth him still, and dwelleth quietly by himself.
3:29: He layeth his face upon the earth, if (percase) there happen to be any hope.
3:30: He offereth his cheek to the smiter, he will be content with reproves.
3:31: ((Caph.)) For the Lord_|LORDE| will not forsake for ever.
3:32: But though he do cast off, yet according to the multitude of his mercies, he receiveth to grace again.
3:33: For he doth not plague, and cast out the children of men from his heart.
3:34: ((Lamed.)) To tread all the prisoners of the earth under his feet.
3:35: To move the judgement of man before the most highest.
3:36: To condemn a man in his cause; The Lord_|LORDE| hath no pleasure in such things.
3:37: ((Mem.)) What is he then that sayeth: there should something be done without the Lord's_|LORDES| commandment:
3:38: Out of the mouth of the most Highest goeth not evil and good?
3:39: Wherefore then murmureth the living man: let him murmur at his own sin.
3:40: ((Nun.)) Let us look well upon our own ways, and remember ourselves, and turn again to the LORD.
3:41: Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto the Lord_|God| that is in heaven.
3:42: We have been dissemblers, and have offended, will thou therefore not be intreated?
3:43: ((Samech.)) Thou hast covered us in thy wrath, and persecuted us, thou hast slain us, without any favour.
3:44: Thou hast hid thyself in a cloud, that our prayer should not go thorow.
3:45: Thou hast made us outcasts, and to be despised among the Heathen.
3:46: ((Ain.)) All our enemies gape upon us.
3:47: Fear and snare is come upon us, yea despite and destruction.
3:48: Whole rivers of water gush out of mine eyes, for the great hurt of my people.
3:49: ((Phe.)) Mine eyes run, and can not cease, for there is no rest.
3:50: O LORD, when will thou look down from heaven, and consider.
3:51: Mine eye breaketh my heart, because of all the daughters of my city.
3:52: ((Zade.)) Mine enemies hunted me out sharply, like a bird, yea and that without a cause.
3:53: They have put down my life into a pit, and laid a stone upon me.
3:54: They poured water upon my head, then thought I: now am I undone.
3:55: ((Koph.)) I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the deep pit.
3:56: Thou hast heard my voice, and hast not turned away thine ears from my sighing and crying.
3:57: Thou hast inclined thy self unto me, when I called upon thee, and haste said: fear not.
3:58: ((Res.)) Thou (O Lord),_|LORDE| hast maintained the cause of my soul, and hast redeemed my life.
3:59: O LORD, thou hast seen my blasphemers, take thou my cause upon thee.
3:60: Thou hast well considered how they go about to do me harm, and that all their counsels are against me.
3:61: ((Sin.)) Thou hast heard their despiteful words (O LORD), yea and all their imaginations against me.
3:62: The lips of mine enemies, and their devices that they take against me, all the day long.
3:63: Thou seest also their sitting down and their rising up, they make their songs of nothing but me.
3:64: ((Thau.)) Reward them, (O LORD), according to the work of their hands.
3:65: Give them the thing, that their own heart is afraid of: even thy curse.
3:66: Persecute them (O LORD) with thine indignation, and root them out from under the heaven.

4:1: ((Aleph.)) O how is the gold become so dim? How is the goodly colour of it so sore changed? and the stones of the sanctuary thus scattered in the corner of every street?
4:2: ((Beth.)) The children of Sion that were alway in honour, and clothed with the most precious gold: how are they now become like the earthen vessels which be made with the potters hand.
4:3: ((Gimel.)) The Lamies give their young ones suck with bare breasts: but the daughter of my people is cruel, and dwelleth in the wilderness: like the Ostriches.
4:4: ((Daleth.)) The tongues of the sucking children, cleave to the roof of their mouths for very thirst. The young children ask bread, but there is no man, that giveth it them.
4:5: ((He.)) They that were wont to fair delicately, perish in the streets: they that afore were brought up in purple, make now much of dung.
4:6: ((Vau.)) The sin of the daughter of my people is become greater than the wickedness of Sodom, that suddenly was destroyed, and not taken with hands.
4:7: ((Zain.)) Her abstainers (or Nazarees) were whiter than the snow or milk: their colour was fresh red as the Corall, their beauty like the Sapphire.
4:8: ((CHeth.)) But now their faces are very black: In so much, that thou shouldest not know them in the streets. Their skin cleaveth to their bones; It is withered, and become like a dry stock.
4:9: ((Teth.)) They that be slain with the sword, are happier than such as die of hunger, and perish away famishing for the fruits of the field.
4:10: ((Iod.)) The women (which of nature are pitiful) have sodden their own children with their hands that they might be their meat, in the miserable destruction of the daughter of my people.
4:11: ((Caph.)) The LORD hath performed his heavy wrath: he hath poured out the furiousness of his displeasure. He hath kindled a fire in Sion, which hath consumed the foundations thereof.
4:12: ((Lamed.)) Neither the kings of the earth, nor all the inhabiters of the world, would have believed that the enemy and adversary should have come in at the gates of the city of Hierusalem.
4:13: ((Mem.)) Which nevertheless is come to pass for the sins of her prophets, and for the wickedness of her priests that have shed innocents blood within her.
4:14: ((Nun.)) So that these blind men went stumbling in the streets, and stained themselves with blood, which else would touch no bloody cloth.
4:15: ((Samech.)) But they cried unto every man: flee the staining, away, get you hence, touch it not. Yea (say they) ye must be brent, ye must dwell among the Gentiles, and bide no longer here.
4:16: ((Ain.)) The countenance of the LORD hath banished them, and shall never look more upon them: For they themselves neither regarded the priests, nor pitied the elders.
4:17: ((Phe.)) Wherefore yet our eyes fail us, while we look for vain help: seeing we be ever waiting upon a people, that can do us no good.
4:18: ((Zade.)) They lay so sharp wait for us, that we can not go safe upon the streets: for our end is come, our days are fulfilled, our end is here.
4:19: ((Koph.)) Our persecutors are swifter than the Aegles_|eagles| of the air, they followed upon us over the mountains, and laid wait for us in the wilderness.
4:20: ((Res.)) The very breath of our mouth: even the anointed LORD himself shall be taken in our sins, of whom we say: Under his shadow we shall be preserved among the Heathen.
4:21: ((Sin.)) And thou (O daughter Edom) that dwellest in the land of Huz, be glad and rejoice: for the cup shall come unto thee also, which when thou suppest of thou shalt be drunk.
4:22: ((Thau.)) Thy sin is well punished (O thou daughter Sion) he shall not suffer thee to be carried away any more. But thy wickedness (O daughter Edom) shall he visit, and for thy sins' sake, he shall lead thee into captivity.

5:1: _{|The prayer of Jeremy|} Call to remembrance, (O LORD) what we have suffered, consider and see our confusion.
5:2: Our inheritance is turned to the strangers, and our houses to the aliens.
5:3: We are become careful and fatherless, and our mothers are as the widows.
5:4: We are fain to drink our own water for money, and our own wood must we buy with money.
5:5: Our necks are under persecution, we are weary, and have no rest.
5:6: Afore time we yielded our selves to the Egyptians, and now to the Assyrians, only that we might have bread enough.
5:7: Our fathers (which now are gone) have sinned, and we must bear their wickedness.
5:8: Servants have the rule of us, and no man delivereth us out of their hands.
5:9: We must get our living with the peril of our lives because of the drouth of the wilderness.
5:10: Our skin is as it had been brent in an oven, for very sore hunger.
5:11: The wives are ravished in Sion, and the maidens in the cities of Judah.
5:12: The princes are hanged up with the hand of the enemies, they have not spared the old sage men,
5:13: they have taken young men's lives from them, and the boys are hanged up upon trees.
5:14: The elders sit no more under the gates, and the young men use no more the playing of Music.
5:15: The joy of our heart is gone, our merry query is turned into mourning.
5:16: The garland of our head is fallen: alas, that ever we sinned so sore.
5:17: Therefore our heart is full of heaviness, and our eyes dim:
5:18: because of the hill of Sion that is destroyed. In so much, that the foxes run upon it.
5:19: But thou, O LORD, that remainest for evermore, and thy seat world without end:
5:20: Wherefore wilt thou still forget us, and forsake us so long?
5:21: O LORD, turn thou us unto thee, and so shall we be turned. Renew our days as in old time,
5:22: for thou hast now banished us long enough, and hast been sore displeased at us.

The ende of the Lamentacyons of Ieremye.