
FIRST LAMENTATION{/}

{1}1{/}

{I}1_{/}How forlorn the 
city lies,
once teeming with people!
How like a widow is she,
once mistress of the 
nations!
A princess among the 
cities,
she has now become a 
slave.
{I}2_{/}She spends her 
nights weeping,
drenching her cheeks with 
tears.
Who is there to comfort 
her
among all her lovers?
All her friends have 
betrayed her
and have become her 
enemies.
{I}3_{/}Humiliated, 
exhausted,
Judah has gone into exile
but she finds no rest 
among the nations
where she sojourns;
her pursuers have 
overtaken her
where there is no way of 
escape.
{I}4_{/}All roads to Zion 
are in mourning;
no one comes to her 
feasts.
Her gates are deserted,
her priests groan,
her virgins grieve.
What bitter anguish she 
suffers!
{I}5_{/}She is at the 
mercy of her foes
who enjoy prosperity and 
power.
Yahweh himself has made 
her suffer
for all her iniquity.
Her children, driven into 
captivity,
take the lonely road to 
exile.
{I}6_{/}Gone from the 
daughter of Zion
is all her majestic 
splendor.
Her rulers, like harts
that find no pasture,
have fled helplessly
before the oppressors.
{I}7_{/}Jerusalem recalls 
her days
of wandering and 
affliction,
her people fell into the 
hands of her foes
and there was no help.
Haters gloated over her 
downfall
and laughed at her 
destruction.
{I}8_{/}Greatly has 
Jerusalem sinned; she has 
become as a thing 
unclean. Honored before, 
but now despised by those 
who have seen her naked,
she herself groans in 
dismay
and turns her face away.
{I}9_{/}Her filth clings 
to her skirt.
She gave no thought to 
her doom,
and so her fall came 
suddenly,
with no one to offer 
comfort.
"Look, O Yahweh, upon my 
misery,
for my enemy has overcome 
me."
{I}10_{/}She has seen how 
the enemy
has laid hands on her 
treasures.
She has seen how the 
nations
have defiled her 
sanctuary -
those peoples you have 
not allowed
to come into your 
assembly.
{I}11_{/}All her people 
groan
as they search for bread;
just to keep themselves 
alive,
they give their jewels 
for food.
Look, Yahweh, and mark
how I have been despised.
{I}12_{/}All you who pass 
by,
look and see.
Is there any calamity
like this, inflicted on 
me
by Yahweh on the day
of his burning anger.
{I}13_{/}From above he 
sent a fire
down into my very bones,
he ensnared my feet
and threw me down,
and left me in pain
the whole day long.
{I}14_{/}He bound my sins 
into a yoke
and fastened them 
together,
then set them upon my 
neck
and caused my strength to 
fail.
Yahweh gave me into the 
hands
of those I cannot 
withstand.
{I}15_{/}Yahweh has 
spurned
the bravest of my 
fighters;
he has summoned an army
to crush my young 
warriors.
Yahweh has trodden in his 
winepress
Judah's virgin daughter.
{I}16_{/}This is what I 
weep about,
what makes my tears well 
up.
No one is near to restore 
my spirit,
no one at hand to console 
me.
My children are desolate,
for the enemy has 
triumphed.
{I}17_{/}Zion stretches 
out her hands,
but there is no one to 
give comfort.
Yahweh has decreed for 
Jacob
that his neighbors become 
his foes.
As an unclean thing among 
them
has Jerusalem become.
{I}18_{/}Yahweh acts 
justly,
for I have defied his 
order.
Listen, all you peoples,
and see how I suffer.
My young men and maidens
have all gone into exile.
{I}19_{/}I cried for help 
to my lovers,
but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
perished in the city
they sought anything to 
eat,
but finally they had to 
die.
{I}20_{/}Look, Yahweh, 
upon my distress:
all within me is in 
anguish.
My heart recoils within 
me:
I know that I have been 
rebellious.
See, outside the sword 
that kills,
and within, death that 
stalks.
{I}21_{/}People have 
heard my moaning
but no one comes to 
comfort me.
My foes have known of my 
suffering,
they rejoice at what you 
have done.
Hasten the day you have 
proclaimed, that they may 
be even as I am.
{I}22_{/}Let their evil 
come
before you, and deal with 
them
as you have dealt with me
on account of my sins.
Great indeed is my 
groaning.
How sick at heart I am!
SECOND LAMENTATION{/}

{1}2{/}

{I}1_{/}Oh, how Yahweh in 
his anger
has despised the daughter 
of Zion!
Israel's glory he has 
flung
from heaven down to 
earth;
unmindful of his 
footstool
on the day of his wrath.
{I}2_{/}Without pity 
Yahweh has shattered
in Jacob every dwelling.
He has torn down in his 
anger
the ramparts of Judah's 
daughter.
He has thrown her rulers 
and her king
to the ground, 
dishonored.
{I}3_{/}He has cut down 
in his anger
the horn of Israel's 
might.
He has withdrawn his 
right hand
at the approach of the 
enemy.
In Jacob, he has blazed 
like a fire,
he has devoured all 
around.
{I}4_{/}Like an enemy he 
has bent his bow,
his right hand steadying 
the arrow.
All our pride of manhood 
he slew
as he took his stand as a 
foe,
pouring out fury like 
fire
upon the tent of Zion's 
daughter.
{I}5_{/}The Lord has 
become an enemy
who has laid Israel in 
ruins.
He has destroyed all her 
palaces
and laid waste her 
fortresses.
He has multiplied the 
tears
of the daughter of Judah.
{I}6_{/}Yahweh has 
wrecked her dwelling,
laid waste her place of 
meeting.
He has made Zion forget
her appointed feasts and 
sabbaths;
he has spurned in his 
fierce wrath
king and prophet and 
priest.
{I}7_{/}The Lord has 
rejected his altar,
has forsaken his 
sanctuary.
He has handed over the 
walls of her tower to the 
enemy,
whose triumphant shouts 
are heard
in the temple of Yahweh.
{I}8_{/}Yahweh resolved 
to tear down
the ramparts of Zion's 
daughter.
He stretched out the 
measuring line,
and did not relent from 
bringing ruin.
He made both wall and 
rampart mourn,
till together they 
crumbled down.
{I}9_{/}Her gates have 
sunk into the ground;
broken and removed are 
their bars.
Her king and rulers
live in exile among the 
nations.
No more message for their 
prophets,
no more visions from 
Yahweh.
{I}10_{/}The elders of 
the daughter of Zion
sit in silence upon the 
ground,
their heads sprinkled 
with dust,
their bodies wrapped in 
sackcloth,
while Jerusalem's young 
women
bow their heads to the 
ground.
{I}11_{/}With weeping my 
eyes are spent;
my soul is in torment
because of the downfall
of the daughter of my 
people,
because children and 
infants faint
in the open spaces of the 
town.
{I}12_{/}To their mothers 
they say,
"Where is the bread and 
wine?"
as they faint like 
wounded men
in the streets and public 
squares,
as their lives ebb away
in their mothers' arms.
{I}13_{/}To what can I 
compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
Who can save or comfort 
you,
O virgin daughter of 
Zion?
Deep as the sea is your 
affliction,
and who can possibly heal 
you?
{I}14_{/}Your prophets' 
visions
were worthless and false.
Had they warned of your 
sins,
your fate might have been 
averted.
But what they gave you 
instead
were false, misleading 
signs.
{I}15_{/}Passersby 
shudder;
some clap their hands at 
the sight;
others wag their heads at 
the fate
of the daughter of 
Jerusalem.
"Is this the city that 
was called
the loveliest, the joy of 
the world?"
{I}16_{/}All your enemies 
open wide
their mouths against you;
they gnash their teeth, 
they hiss,
they crow: "We have 
destroyed her!
This is the day we have 
waited for;
we have lived to see it 
happen."
{I}17_{/}Yahweh has 
accomplished his purpose;
he has fulfilled his word
which he decreed in the 
days of old;
he overthrew you 
merciless.
He made your enemies 
joyful
and gave them power to 
crush you.
{I}18_{/}Cry out to the 
Lord, O wall
of the daughter of Zion!
Oh, let your tears flow
day and night, like a 
river.
Give yourself no relief;
grant your eyes no 
respite.
{I}19_{/}Get up, cry out 
in the night,
as the evening watches 
start;
pour out your heart like 
water
in the presence of the 
Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your 
children,
who faint with hunger
at the corner of every 
street.
{I}20_{/}Look, Yahweh, 
and answer:
Why have you treated us 
like this?
Why must women eat their 
little ones,
whom they have nursed in 
their arms?
Why must priest and 
prophet be slaughtered
in the sanctuary of the 
Lord?
{I}21_{/}In the dust of 
the streets
lie the young and the 
old,
both virgins and young 
men -
all fallen by the sword.
You have killed on the 
day of your fury;
you have slaughtered 
without mercy.
{I}22_{/}As for a feast 
day, you bade
terrors to come from 
every side.
There was, on the day of 
your anger,
neither fugitive nor 
survivor.
My enemy has murdered
all whom I bore and 
reared.
THIRD LAMENTATION{/}

{1}3{/}

{I}1_{/}I am a man who 
has known calamity from 
the rod of his wrath;
{I}2_{/}he has driven and 
brought me
into darkness, not into 
the light.
{I}3_{/}He turns his hand 
against me alone,
all the day long, again 
and again.
{I}4_{/}He has worn away 
my flesh and skin;
he has broken all my 
bones.
{I}5_{/}He assails me and 
surrounds me
with tribulation and 
bitterness.
{I}6_{/}He leaves me to 
dwell in darkness,
like those who have long 
been dead.
{I}7_{/}He has walled me 
in without escape;
he has weighed me down 
with chains.
{I}8_{/}I could not even 
cry for help,
for he has stopped my 
prayer.
{I}9_{/}He bars my way 
with stones
and left me helplessly 
alone.
{I}10_{/}Like a bear 
lying in ambush,
like a lion waiting for 
its prey,
{I}11_{/}he lunged at me, 
tore me to pieces,
and left me alone and 
helpless.
{I}12_{/}Then he drew his 
bow
and aimed his arrow at 
me.
{I}13_{/}He pierced my 
sides
with arrows from his 
quiver.
{I}14_{/}I have become a 
laughingstock,
a topic of songs for all 
the peoples.
{I}15_{/}He has sated me 
with bitter food;
he has made me drunk with 
wormwood.
{I}16_{/}He has broken my 
teeth with gravel
and thrown me down in the 
ashes.
{I}17_{/}He has deprived 
my soul of peace,
till I have forgotten 
happiness.
{I}18_{/}Now I say, "Gone 
are my hopes
and all my confidence in 
the Lord."
{I}19_{/}Recalling my 
affliction and 
homelessness is wormwood 
and gall.
{I}20_{/}Thinking it over 
and over
makes my soul downcast.
{I}21_{/}But this, when I 
ponder,
is what gives me hope:
{I}22_{/}Yahweh's love 
abides unceasingly.
His compassion is never 
consumed;
{I}23_{/}every morning it 
is renewed.
And his love remains ever 
faithful.
{I}24_{/}"My portion is 
Yahweh," says my soul.
"On him shall I rely."
{I}25_{/}Yahweh is good 
to those who hope in him,
to souls who search for 
him.
{I}26_{/}It is rewarding 
to wait in silence
for the Lord's salvation.
{I}27_{/}It is good for 
man to bear the yoke from 
his youth.
{I}28_{/}Let him sit 
alone in silence
when Yahweh fastens the 
yoke on him.
{I}29_{/}Let him put his 
lips to the dust
there may still be hope.
{I}30_{/}Let him offer 
his cheek to be struck;
let him be overwhelmed 
with insult.
{I}31_{/}For it is not 
forever

that the Lord rejects 
man.
{I}32_{/}In the abundance 
of his love
he punishes, but has 
compassion.
{I}33_{/}For he does not 
willingly abase
or afflict the human 
race.
{I}34_{/}To trample 
underfoot
the prisoners of the 
land,
{I}35_{/}to deny a man 
his rights
in the presence of the 
Most High,
{I}36_{/}to deprive 
people of justice -
the Lord does not approve 
of this.
{I}37_{/}Who can command 
and execute
what the Lord has not 
willed?
{I}38_{/}From the mouth 
of the Most High
come all things, good or 
bad.
{I}39_{/}Why should then 
mortals complain
when punished for their 
sin?
{I}40_{/}Let us search 
and examine our ways and 
return to the Lord.
{I}41_{/}Let us lift up 
our hearts and hands
to God in heaven, and 
say:
{I}42_{/}"We have sinned 
and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven 
us.
{I}43_{/}Clothed in anger 
you have pursued us 
without mercy.
{I}44_{/}You have wrapped 
yourself in clouds
so that no prayer can 
reach you.
{I}45_{/}You have reduced 
us to dust
and refuse among the 
nations.
{I}46_{/}Our foes have 
opened wide
their mouths against us.
{I}47_{/}Terror is our 
lot:
pitfall, ruin and 
desolation.
{I}48_{/}Great is my 
grief over the downfall
of the daughter of my 
people.
{I}49_{/}No respite, no 
relief,
as my tears flow 
ceaselessly,
{I}50_{/}till the Lord 
looks down
from heaven and sees.
{I}51_{/}My soul will 
grieve in torment
for the women of my city.
{I}52_{/}Like a bird I 
have been hunted
by my foes without cause.
{I}53_{/}They flung me 
alive{I}_{/}into a pit
and cast stones at me.
{I}54_{/}As the waters 
closed over my head,
I thought I would never 
again live.
{I}55_{/}Out of the 
depths I called
on your name, O Yahweh.
{I}56_{/}You heard; you 
have not been deaf
to my cry for relief.

{I}57_{/}When I called, 
you even came near
and told me not to fear.
{I}58_{/}O Lord, you took 
up my case
and redeemed my life.
{I}59_{/}You have seen 
the wrong they did me,
uphold my cause!
{I}60_{/}You have seen 
how resentfully
they plotted to destroy 
my life.
{I}61_{/}O Yahweh, you 
have heard the insults
hurled at me, their 
insidious plots;
{I}62_{/}You have been 
aware of their thoughts,
their muttering against 
me all day long.
{I}63_{/}Look at them - 
sitting or standing -
mocking me in their song!
{I}64_{/}Repay them as 
they deserve,
according to their deeds, 
O Yahweh.
{I}65_{/}Harden their 
hearts;
hold them under your 
curse.
{I}66_{/}Pursue and 
destroy them in fury
from under the heavens, O 
Yahweh.
FOURTH LAMENTATION{/}

{1}4{/}

{I}1_{/}How tarnished the 
gold has become.
The fine gold has lost 
its luster.
Why, the sacred stones 
lie strewn
at every street corner!
{I}2_{/}Oh, the precious 
sons of Zion,
once worth their weight 
in gold -
but now reckoned no more
than earthen jars from a 
potter's mold!
{I}3_{/}Even jackals bare 
their breasts
to suckle their young,
but my people have become 
heartless,
like ostriches in the 
desert land.
{I}4_{/}In thirst the 
infant's tongue
cleaves to the roof of 
its mouth.
Children are begging for 
alms,
but there is no one to 
help them.
{I}5_{/}Those accustomed 
to fine food
now lie dying in the 
streets.
Those accustomed to wear 
purple
now lie destitute upon 
the ash heaps.
{I}6_{/}The punishment of 
my people
is greater than that of 
Sodom,
which was overthrown in 
an instant,
without a helping hand.
{I}7_{/}Brighter than 
snow were their rulers,
even whiter than milk;
their bodies rosier than 
coral,
their beauty as radiant 
as sapphires.
{I}8_{/}Now they look 
blacker than soot,
unrecognized in the 
streets.
Their emaciated form 
shows lack of food,
their skin shriveled and 
dry as wood.
{I}9_{/}Better to have 
died by the sword
than to have perished in 
hunger.
The famine-stricken 
people perish,
and slowly, wretchedly, 
pass away.
{I}10_{/}Once loving 
mothers, our women
have cooked their own 
children
and made them their food:
such has been the crash 
of my people!
{I}11_{/}Yahweh has given 
full vent to his wrath;
pouring out his fierce 
anger.
He has kindled a fire in 
Zion,
which has consumed her 
foundation.
{I}12_{/}Never had kings 
believed
nor the world thought 
possible
that the enemy could 
break
through the gates of 
Jerusalem.
{I}13_{/}But this 
happened because of the 
priests, who sinned,
because of the prophets 
who transgressed,
shedding in her midst the 
blood of the just.
{I}14_{/}They wandered 
like blind men,
groping through the 
streets,
so defiled with blood
that none could touch 
their garments.
{I}15_{/}"Go away!" 
people cried at them.
"Do not touch us! You are 
unclean!"
They became fugitives 
wandering about,
but even the nations 
would drive them out.
{I}16_{/}Yahweh himself 
has dispersed them;
no longer does he watch 
over them.
The priests are shown no 
honor;
the elders are given no 
favor.
{I}17_{/}Our watchmen 
strained their eyes,
looking for help in vain.
We anxiously waited for 
an ally,
who failed to save us.
{I}18_{/}Like dogs our 
enemies hounded us
and kept us off the 
streets.
As our end drew near,
we knew our days were 
numbered.
{I}19_{/}Swifter were our 
pursuers,
than the eagles in the 
sky.
Over the hills they 
chased us,
they waylaid us in the 
wilderness.
{I}20_{/}Our life's 
breath, Yahweh's 
anointed,
was taken captive in 
their pit -
he of whom we said, "In 
his protection
we shall live among the 
nations."
{I}21_{/}Rejoice and be 
glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in the land 
of Uz.
But you shall be drunk 
and stripped bare,
for to you also the cup 
will pass.
{I}22_{/}Your ordeal, 
daughter of Zion, will 
end;
for your exile will not 
be prolonged.
But Edom's daughter will 
be chastised,
and her wickedness will 
be exposed.
FIFTH LAMENTATION{/}

{1}5{/}

{I}1_{/}Remember, Yahweh, 
what has befallen us. 
Look, and see our 
disgrace,
{I}2_{/}our home handed 
over to strangers, our 
inheritance to 
foreigners.
{I}3_{/}We are as 
orphans, fatherless, and 
early widowed are our 
mothers.
{I}4_{/}Our drinking 
water we must buy; for 
our own wood we have to 
pay.
{I}5_{/}With the yoke 
stifling our breath, 
without rest we work to 
death.
{I}6_{/}We have bowed 
down to Egypt, and to 
Assyria, just to subsist.
{I}7_{/}Our fathers who 
sinned are no more but we 
bear their guilt.
{I}8_{/}Slaves rule us, 
and there is no one to 
rescue us from their 
hands.
{I}9_{/}We brave the 
desert heat and the sword 
just to get our hard-
earned food.
{I}10_{/}Our skin is hot 
like a furnace, dried up 
and shriveled by hunger.
{I}11_{/}Ravished are the 
wives in Zion, the 
virgins in the towns of 
Judah.
{I}12_{/}Princes are hung 
up by their hands; elders 
shown no respect.
{I}13_{/}Young men toil 
at the millstones, boys 
stagger under heavy 
loads.
{I}14_{/}The old have 
shunned the city gate, 
the young, their music.
{I}15_{/}From our hearts 
joy is gone; we danced 
then, but now we lament.
{I}16_{/}The garlands 
have fallen {I}_{/}from 
our heads. Woe upon us, 
for we have sinned!
{I}17_{/}Over all this 
our hearts are sick; and 
our eyes have grown weak:
{I}18_{/}for we see Mount 
Zion desolate; the 
jackals prowl within.
{I}19_{/}You, O Yahweh, 
forever reign; your 
throne endures from age 
to age.
{I}20_{/}Why, then, 
should you abandon us, 
why forget us for so long 
a time?
{I}21_{/}Lead us to you 
again, O Lord, that we 
may be restored; renew 
our days as of old.
{I}22_{/}Have you utterly 
rejected us? Is there no 
end to your wrath against 
us?

