f[See ver. 1 above]
j[See ver. 7 above]
bc[See ver. 8 above]
be[See ver. 10 above]
bv[See ver. 16 above]
cl[See ver. 21 above]
dc[See ver. 4 above]
eh[See ver. 11 above]
gh[See ver. 7 above]
gk[See ver. 10 above]
gy[See ver. 15 above]
hi[See ver. 21 above]
hy[See ver. 35 above]
in[See ver. 48 above]
jg[See ver. 60 above]
me[See ver. 12 above]
mg[See ver. 14 above]
mq[See ver. 3 above]

Jeremiah 12:4-8

4 aHow long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
bFor the evil of those who dwell in it
cthe beasts and the birds are swept away,
because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

5 If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
what will you do in dthe thicket of the Jordan?
6For eeven your brothers and the house of your father,
feven they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
gdo not believe them,
though they speak friendly words to you.”
7 “I have forsaken my house;
I have abandoned hmy heritage;
I have given ithe beloved of my soul
into the hands of her enemies.
8 jMy heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me;
therefore I hate her.

Jeremiah 14:2

2 kJudah mourns,
and lher gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
and mthe cry of Jerusalem goes up.

Jeremiah 23:10

10 nFor the land is full of adulterers;
obecause of the curse pthe land mourns,
and qthe pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
rTheir course is evil,
and their might is not right.

The book of Lamentations is made up of five poems, each an expression of grief over the fall of Jerusalem. Like a eulogy at a funeral, these laments are intended to mourn a loss—in this case, the loss of a nation. The latter half of chapter 3 implies that the purpose behind the book’s graphic depictions of sorrow and suffering was to produce hope in the God whose compassion is “new every morning” (v. 23) and whose faithfulness is great even to a people who have been condemned for their own unfaithfulness. The author, while not identified in the book itself, may have been the prophet Jeremiah, who was said to have “uttered a lament for Josiah” (2 Chron. 35:25). Lamentations was probably written shortly after Jerusalem’s fall in 586 b.c.

Lamentations 1

How Lonely Sits the City

1 sHow lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like ta widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was ua princess among the provinces
has become va slave.
2 wShe weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
xamong all her lovers
she has ynone to comfort her;
zall her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
3 aaJudah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
abshe dwells now among the nations,
acbut finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
Or  in the narrow passes

4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to aethe festival;
afall her gates are desolate;
her priests aggroan;
her virgins have been afflicted,
Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away

and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 aiHer foes have become the head;
her ajenemies prosper,
because akthe Lord has afflicted her
alfor the multitude of her transgressions;
amher children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
6 From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
anthat find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
aoall the precious things
that were hers from apdays of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they aqmocked at her downfall.
8 arJerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
asfor they have seen her nakedness;
she herself atgroans
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was auin her skirts;
avshe took no thought of her future;
Or end

therefore her fall is terrible;
axshe has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has aytriumphed!”
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her azprecious things;
for she has seen bathe nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you bbforbade
to enter your congregation.
11 All her people bcgroan
as bdthey search for bread;
they trade their betreasures for bffood
to revive their strength.
Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all bgyou who pass by?
bhLook and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which bithe Lord inflicted
on bjthe day of his fierce anger.
13 From on high he bksent fire;
into my bones
Septuagint; Hebrew  bones and
he made it descend;
bmhe spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
bnhe has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
14 “My transgressions were bound
The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
into bpa yoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
of those whom I cannot withstand.
15 “The Lord rejected
all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
bqthe Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 For these things brI weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for bsa comforter is far from me,
one to btrevive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
17 buZion stretches out her hands,
but bvthere is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.
18 bw“The Lord is in the right,
bxfor I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
bymy young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 “I called to bzmy lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while cathey sought food
to revive their strength.
20 Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
cbmy stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
ccIn the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
21 “They heard
Septuagint, Syriac Hear
cemy groaning,
yet cfthere is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
cgthey are glad that you have done it.
You have brought
Syriac Bring
the day you announced;
cinow let them be as I am.
22 cj“Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as ckyou have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for clmy groans are many,
and cmmy heart is faint.”

Lamentations 2

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

1 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion cnunder a cloud!
coHe has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered cphis footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord cqhas swallowed up crwithout mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath cshe has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ctdown to the ground cuin dishonor
the kingdom cvand its rulers.
3 He has cut down in cwfierce anger
all cxthe might of Israel;
cyhe has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
czhe has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 daHe has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set dblike a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 dcThe Lord has become like an enemy;
ddhe has swallowed up Israel;
dehe has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
dfmourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins dghis meeting place;
dhthe Lord has made Zion forget
festival and diSabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 djThe Lord has scorned his altar,
dkdisowned his sanctuary;
dlhe has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
dmthey raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 dnThe Lord determined to lay in ruins
dothe wall of the daughter of Zion;
dphe stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
dqhe caused rampart and wall to lament;
drthey languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
dshe has ruined dtand broken her bars;
duher king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and dvher prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
dwsit on the ground dxin silence;
dythey have thrown dust on their heads
and dzput on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 eaMy eyes are spent with weeping;
ebmy stomach churns;
ecmy bile is poured out to the ground
edbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
eebecause infants and babies effaint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
egWhere is bread and wine?”
ehas they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothersbosom.
13 What can I say for you, eito what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
ejWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
ekFor your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 elYour prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
emthey have not exposed your iniquity
to enrestore your fortunes,
eobut have seen for you eporacles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
eqthey hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
erthe perfection of beauty,
esthe joy of all the earth?”
16 etAll your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We euhave swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; evwe see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out ewhis word,
which he commanded exlong ago;
eyhe has thrown down ezwithout pity;
fahe has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the fbmight of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O fcwall of the daughter of Zion,
fdlet tears stream down like a torrent
feday and night!
ffGive yourself no rest,
fgyour eyes no respite!
19 Arise, fhcry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
fiPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
fjLift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
fkwho faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
flWith whom have you dealt thus?
fmShould women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of fntheir tender care?
Should fopriest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
fplie the young and the old;
fqmy young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
fryou have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering fswithout pity.
22 You summoned as if to fta festival day
fumy terrors on every side,
fvand on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
fwthose whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.

Lamentations 3

Great Is Your Faithfulness

1 fxI am the man who has seen affliction
under the fyrod of his wrath;
2he has driven and brought me
fzinto darkness without any light;
3surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
gahe has broken my bones;
5 gbhe has besieged and enveloped me
with gcbitterness and tribulation;
6 gdhe has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 geHe has walled me about so that gfI cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
8though ggI call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 ghhe has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 giHe is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 gjhe turned aside my steps and gktore me to pieces;
glhe has made me desolate;
12 gmhe bent his bow gnand set me
as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys
gothe arrows of his quiver;
14 gpI have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
gqthe object of their taunts all day long.
15 grHe has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with gswormwood.
16 gtHe has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and gumade me cower in ashes;
17my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness
Hebrew good
is;
18 gwso I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 gxRemember my affliction and my wanderings,
gythe wormwood and gzthe gall!
20My soul continually remembers it
haand is bowed down within me.
21But this I call to mind,
and hbtherefore I have hope:
22 hcThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
Syriac, Targum; Hebrew Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, we are not cut off

hehis mercies never come to an end;
23they are new hfevery morning;
hggreat is your faithfulness.
24 hh“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
hitherefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who hjwait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 hkIt is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 hlIt is good for a man that he bear
the yoke hmin his youth.
28 Let him hnsit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 holet him put his mouth in the dust
there may yet be hope;
30 hplet him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
31 hqFor the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32but, though he hrcause grief, hshe will have compassion
htaccording to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 hufor he does not afflict from his heart
or hvgrieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot
all hwthe prisoners of the earth,
35 hxto deny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
36to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
hythe Lord does not approve.
37 hzWho has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 iaIs it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39 ibWhy should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways,
icand return to the Lord!
41 idLet us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
42 ieWe have transgressed and ifrebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
igkilling without pity;
44 ihyou have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 iiYou have made us scum and garbage
among the peoples.
46 ijAll our enemies
open their mouths against us;
47 ikpanic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and ildestruction;
48 immy eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 in“My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 iountil the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees;
51my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 ip“I have been hunted iqlike a bird
by those who were my enemies irwithout cause;
53 isthey flung me alive into the pit
itand cast stones on me;
54 iuwater closed over my head;
I said, iv‘I am lost.’
55 iw“I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56 ixyou heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
57 iyYou came near when I called on you;
you said, iz‘Do not fear!’
58 “You have jataken up my cause, jbO Lord;
you have jcredeemed my life.
59You have seen the wrong done to me, jdO Lord;
judge my cause.
60You have seen all their vengeance,
all jetheir plots against me.
61 jf“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all jgtheir plots against me.
62The lips and thoughts jhof my assailants
are against me all the day long.
63 jiBehold their sitting and their rising;
jjI am the object of their taunts.
64 jk“You will repay them,
Or Repay them
O Lord,
jmaccording to the work of their hands.
65You will give them
Or Give them
dullness of heart;
your curse will be
Or place your curse
on them.
66You will pursue them
Or Pursue them
in anger and jqdestroy them
from under jryour heavens, O Lord.”
Syriac (compare Septuagint, Vulgate); Hebrew the heavens of the Lord

Lamentations 4

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

1 jtHow the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
juat the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion,
worth their weight in jvfine gold,
how they are regarded as jwearthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer the breast;
they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the nursing infant jxsticks
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
jythe children beg for food,
but no one gives to them.
5 Those who once feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
jzthose who were brought up in purple
embrace ash heaps.
6 kaFor the chastisement
Or iniquity
of the daughter of my people has been greater
than the punishment
Or sin
of Sodom,
kdwhich was overthrown in a moment,
and no hands were wrung for her.
The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

7 Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
the beauty of their form
The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
was like sapphire.
Hebrew lapis lazuli

8 khNow their face is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as wood.
9 Happier were the victims of the sword
than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
by lack of the fruits of the field.
10 kiThe hands of kjcompassionate women
kkhave boiled their own children;
klthey became their food
during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 kmThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger,
and knhe kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
12 koThe kings of the earth did not believe,
nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.
13 This was for kpthe sins of her prophets
and kqthe iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
the blood of the righteous.
14 krThey wandered, blind, through the streets;
they were so defiled with blood
ksthat no one was able to touch
their garments.
15 Away! ktUnclean!” people cried at them.
Away! Away! Do not touch!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
people said among the nations,
“They shall stay with us no longer.”
16 kuThe Lord himself
Hebrew  The face of the Lord
has scattered them;
he will regard them no more;
kwno honor was shown to the priests,
kxno favor to the elders.
17 kyOur eyes failed, ever watching
kzvainly for help;
in our watching we watched
for laa nation which could not save.
18 lbThey dogged our steps
so that we could not walk in our streets;
lcour end drew near; our days were numbered,
for our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were ldswifter
than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 leThe breath of our nostrils, lfthe Lord’s anointed,
was captured lgin their pits,
of whom we said, lh“Under his shadow
we shall live among the nations.”
21 liRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in ljthe land of Uz;
but to you also lkthe cup shall pass;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
22 llThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
he will keep you in exile no longer;
Or  he will not exile you again

but lnyour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will uncover your sins.

Lamentations 5

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

1 loRemember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see lpour disgrace!
2 lqOur inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4We must pay for the water we drink;
the wood we get must be bought.
5 lrOur pursuers are at our necks;
Symmachus With a yoke on our necks

we are weary; we are given no rest.
6We have given the hand to ltEgypt, and to luAssyria,
to get bread enough.
7Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
lvand we bear their iniquities.
8 lwSlaves rule over us;
there is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 lxWe get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 lyOur skin is hot as an oven
with lzthe burning heat of famine.
11Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the towns of Judah.
12 maPrinces are hung up by their hands;
mbno respect is shown to the elders.
13Young men are compelled to mcgrind at the mill,
and boys stagger mdunder loads of wood.
14 meThe old men have left the city gate,
the young men mftheir music.
15 mgThe joy of our hearts has ceased;
mhour dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 miThe crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17For this mjour heart has become sick,
for these things mkour eyes have grown dim,
18for Mount Zion which lies desolate;
mljackals prowl over it.
19 mmBut you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures to all generations.
20 mnWhy do you forget us forever,
why do you forsake us for so many days?
21 moRestore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
Renew our days as of old
22 mpunless you have utterly rejected us,
and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

Zechariah 7:5

5Say to all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in mqthe fifth month and in mrthe seventh, for these msseventy years, mtwas it mufor me that you fasted?
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