THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. CHAP. I. [AND IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THAT ISRAEL HAD BEEN CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE, AND JERUSALEM WAS BECOME DESOLATE, THAT JEREMIAH SAT WEEPING, AND LAMENTED WITH THIS LAMENTATION OVER Jerusalem, AND SAID,] 1. HOW doth she sit solitary, the city that was full of people! She is become as a widow, that was great among the nations! She that was sovereign over provinces is become tributary! 2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are upon her cheeks; She hath no comforter from among all her lovers All her associates have dealt perfidiously by her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into exile because of affliction, and because of great servitude, She hath dwelt among the nations, she hath found no rest; All her pursuers have overtaken her in the straits. The ways of Sion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feast; All her gates are desolate; her priests sigh; 5. Her adversaries are become the head, her ene 6 7 mies have prospered, Because JEHOVAH hath afflicted her for the mul titude of her transgressions; Her children are gone into captivity before an adversary. And from the daughter of Sion all her beauty is departed; Her princes are become like harts that find no Jerusalem hath called to mind in the days of her affliction, and of her abasement, All her desirable things which were in the days of old; When her people fell into the hand of an enemy, and she had no helper, The adversaries saw, they laughed at her discontinuance, 8 Jerusalem hath sinned greatly; therefore hath she been as one set apart for unclean; 10 All that honoured her have despised her, because they have seen her nakedness; Even she herself sigheth, and turneth backward. [Though] her uncleanness was in her skirts, she thought not of its latter end; Therefore is she wonderfully brought low; she hath no comforter; Behold, O JEHOVAH, how an enemy hath aggravated mine affliction. An adversary hath spread his hand over all her desirable things; 11 12 13 14 15 Surely she hath seen nations enter into her sanc tuary, Concerning whom thou didst command, that they should not enter into thy congregation. All her people sigh; they seek bread; They have given their things of value for food to sustain life; Behold, O JEHOVAH, and consider, how I am be come vile! O that among you, all ye that ye would look and see, If there be a sorrow like unto my sorrow, which hath been caused to me, Whom JEHOVAH hath afflicted in the day of his fierce anger! From on high hath he sent fire, and hath caused it to penetrate into my bones; He hath spread a net for my feet; he hath turned me back; He hath made me desolate, languishing all the day long. My transgressions have been closely watched, that into his hand they might entangle themselves; His yoke upon my neck hath caused my strength to stumble; JEHOVAH hath cast me upon my hands, I am unable to rise up. JEHOVAH hath trodden down all my valiant ones in the midst of me; He hath called an assembly against me, to crush my young men; JEHOVAH hath trodden the wine-vat in the virgin daughter of Judah. For these things do I weep, mine eye poureth down water, Because a comforter is far from me, a supporter of my life; My children are become desolate, because an enemy hath prevailed. Sion spreadeth forth her hands, she hath no comforter; JEHOVAH hath commanded concerning Jacob, those that are round about him are his enemies; Jerusalem is become as one set apart for unclean among them. Righteous is he, JEHOVAH, for I have rebelled against his commandment: Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and consider my sorrow; My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. I called upon my lovers, they have proved false to me; My priests and mine elders in the city have given up the ghost, While they sought food for themselves to support their life. Behold, O JEHOVAH, how I am distressed; my bowels are troubled; My heart within me is turned upside down; because I have greatly rebelled, Abroad a sword destroyeth, at home as it were death. They heard how I sighed, there was none that comforted me'; All mine enemies heard of my calamity, they re joiced that thou hadst wrought it; Thou hast brought the day, thou hast pronounced, that they shall be even as I. 2 Let all their wickedness come before thee; and deal thou with them, As thou hast dealt with me for all my transgres sions: For my sighings are many, and my heart is faint. CHAP. II. HOW doth JEHOVAH cloud with his anger the He hath cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel; And hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. JEHOVAH hath swallowed up without pity all the pleasant places of Jacob; He hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought down to the ground, he hath pro- He hath cut off in his fierce anger every horn of He hath turned back his right hand from the face And hath burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. He hath bent his bow like an enemy, his right hand stood erect like an adversary, And hath slain every youth, all that were desirable to the eye; |