ASV - Lamentations Chapter 3 to 5

3 Lamentations 3

¹I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. ²He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. ³Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day. ⁴My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. ⁵He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. ⁶He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead. ⁷He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy. ⁸Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer. ⁹He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked. ¹⁰He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places. ¹¹He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate. ¹²He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. ¹³He hath caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins. ¹⁴I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day. ¹⁵He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood. ¹⁶He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes. ¹⁷And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity. ¹⁸And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.

¹⁹Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. ²⁰My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me. ²¹This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope. ²²It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. ²³They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. ²⁴Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. ²⁵Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. ²⁶It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah. ²⁷It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. ²⁸Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him. ²⁹Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. ³⁰Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be filled full with reproach. ³¹For the Lord will not cast off for ever. ³²For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. ³³For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. ³⁴To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, ³⁵To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, ³⁶To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. ³⁷Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? ³⁸Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good? ³⁹Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah. ⁴¹Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. ⁴²We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned. ⁴³Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. ⁴⁴Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵Thou hast made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples. ⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. ⁴⁷Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction. ⁴⁸Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, ⁵⁰Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven. ⁵¹Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city. ⁵²They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause. ⁵³They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me. ⁵⁴Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.

⁵⁵I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon. ⁵⁶Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. ⁵⁷Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not. ⁵⁸O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. ⁵⁹O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause. ⁶⁰Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me. ⁶¹Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me, ⁶²The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. ⁶³Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song. ⁶⁴Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them. ⁶⁶Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.

4 Lamentations 4

¹How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street. ²The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! ³Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. ⁵They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. ⁶For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid upon her. ⁷Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire. ⁸Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. ⁹They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field. ¹⁰The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger; And he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof. ¹²The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem. ¹³It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. ¹⁴They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men cannot touch their garments. ¹⁵Depart ye, they cried unto them, Unclean! depart, depart, touch not! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn here . ¹⁶The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more regard them: They respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.

¹⁷Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save. ¹⁸They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. ¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. ²⁰The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits; Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass through unto thee also; thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. ²²The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover thy sins.

5 Lamentations 5

¹Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold, and see our reproach. ²Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens. ³We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows. ⁴We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold unto us. ⁵Our pursuers are upon our necks: We are weary, and have no rest. ⁶We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. ⁷Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities. ⁸Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand. ⁹We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness. ¹⁰Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine. ¹¹They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah. ¹²Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored. ¹³The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood. ¹⁴The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music. ¹⁵The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning. ¹⁶The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned. ¹⁷For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim; ¹⁸For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: The foxes walk upon it.

¹⁹Thou, O Jehovah, abidest for ever; Thy throne is from generation to generation. ²⁰Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, And forsake us so long time? ²¹Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old. ²²But thou hast utterly rejected us; Thou art very wroth against us.