The Lamentations of Jeremias, Chapter 1

1   Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of
    people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a
    widow: the princes of provinces made tributary!
2   Beth. Weeping she hath wept in the night, and her tears
    are on her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all
    them that were dear to her: all her friends have despised
    her, and are become her enemies.
3   Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place because of
    her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage: she hath
    dwelt among the nations, and she hath found no rest: all
    her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits.
4   Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none
    that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken
    down: her priests sigh: her virgins are in affliction, and
    she is oppressed with bitterness.
5   He. Her adversaries are become her lords, her enemies are
    enriched: because the Lord hath spoken against her for the
    multitude of her iniquities: her children are led into
    captivity: before the face of the oppressor.
6   Vau. And from the daughter of Sion all her beauty is
    departed: her princes are become like rams that find no
    pastures: and they are gone away without strength before
    the face of the pursuer.
7   Zain. Jerusalem hath remembered the days of her
    affliction, and prevarication of all her desirable things
    which she had from the days of old, when her people fell
    in the enemy's hand, and there was no helper: the enemies
    have seen her, and have mocked at her sabbaths.
8   Heth. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she
    become unstable: all that honoured her have despised her,
    because they have seen her shame: but she sighed and
    turned backward.
9   Teth. Her filthiness is on her feet, and she hath not
    remembered her end: she is wonderfully cast down, not
    having a comforter: behold, O Lord, my affliction, because
    the enemy is lifted up.
10  Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable
    things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her
    sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they
    should not enter into thy church.
11  Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have
    given all their precious things for food to relieve the
    soul: see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile.
12  Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if
    there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a
    vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce
    anger.
13  Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath
    chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath
    turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with
    sorrow all the day long.
14  Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are
    folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my
    strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a
    hand out of which I am not able to rise.
15  Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of
    the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to
    destroy my chosen men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress
    for the virgin daughter of Juda.
16  Ain. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water:
    because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from
    me: my children are desolate because the enemy hath
    prevailed.
17  Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to
    comfort her: the Lord hath commanded against Jacob, his
    enemies are round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous
    woman among them.
18  Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to
    wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow:
    my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity.
19  Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my
    priests and my ancients pined away in the city: while they
    sought their food, to relieve their souls.
20  Res. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, my bowels are
    troubled: my heart is turned within me, for I am full of
    bitterness: abroad the sword destroyeth, and at home there
    is death alike.
21  Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to
    comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my evil, they
    have rejoiced that thou hast done it: thou hast brought a
    day of consolation, and they shall be like unto me.
22  Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make
    vintage of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all
    my iniquities: for my sighs are many, and my heart is
    sorrowful.


           The Lamentations of Jeremias, Chapter 2

1   Aleph. How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the
    daughter of Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from
    heaven to the earth the glorious one of Israel, and hath
    not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger!
2   Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not
    spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed
    in his wrath the strong holds of the virgin of Juda, and
    brought them down to the ground: he hath made the kingdom
    unclean, and the princes thereof.
3   Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of
    Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the
    enemy: and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming
    fire devouring round about.
4   Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed
    his right hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all
    that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter
    of Sion, he hath poured out his indignation like fire.
5   He. The Lord is become as an enemy: he hath cast down
    Israel headlong, he hath overthrown all the walls thereof:
    he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath multiplied in
    the daughter of Juda the afflicted, both men and women.
6   Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath
    thrown down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts
    and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered
    up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of
    his wrath.
7   Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his
    sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers
    thereof into the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise
    in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.
8   Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the
    daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath
    not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark
    hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
9   Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath
    destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes
    are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her
    prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
10  Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the
    ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled
    their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the
    virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11  Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are
    troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the
    destruction of the daughter of my people, when the
    children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets
    of the city.
12  Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine?
    when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of
    the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms
    of their mothers.
13  Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I
    liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal
    thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion?
    for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal
    thee?
14  Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for
    thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite
    thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false
    revelations and banishments.
15  Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their
    hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at
    the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of
    perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?
16  Phe. All thy enemies have opened their mouth against thee:
    they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have
    said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we
    looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.
17  Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath
    fulfilled his word, which he commanded in the days of old:
    he hath destroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused
    the enemy to rejoice over thee, and hath set up the horn
    of thy adversaries.
18  Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the
    daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day
    and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of
    thy eye cease.
19  Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of
    the watches: pour out thy heart like water before the face
    of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy
    little children, that have fainted for hunger at the top
    of all the streets.
20  Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast thus
    dealt with: shall women then eat their own fruit, their
    children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet
    be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord ?
21  Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground:
    my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou
    hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed,
    and shewn them no pity.
22  Thau. Thou hast called as to a festival, those that should
    terrify me round about, and there was none in the day of
    the wrath of the Lord that escaped and was left: those
    that I brought up, and nourished, my enemy hath consumed
    them.


           The Lamentations of Jeremias, Chapter 3

1   Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his
    indignation.
2   Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and
    not into light.
3   Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again
    his hand all the day.
4   Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath
    broken my bones.
5   Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed
    me with gall and labour.
6   Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead
    for ever.
7   Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may
    not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8   Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out
    my prayer.
9   Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he
    hath turned my paths upside down.
10  Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a
    lion in secret places.
11  Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me
    in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
12  Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his
    arrows.
13  He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his
    quiver.
14  He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all
    the day long.
15  He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated
    me with wormwood.
16  Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed
    me with ashes.
17  Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have
    forgotten good things.
18  Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the
    Lord.
19  Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the
    wormwood, and the gall.
20  Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall
    languish within me.
21  Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart,
    therefore will I hope.
22  Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed:
    because his commiserations have not failed.
23  Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy
    faithfulness.
24  Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will
    I wait for him.
25  Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the
    soul that seeketh him.
26  Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of
    God.
27  Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke
    from his youth.
28  Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he
    hath taken it up upon himself.
29  Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there
    may be hope.
30  Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he
    shall be filled with reproaches.
31  Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32  Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy,
    according to the multitude of his mercies.
33  Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off
    the children of men.
34  Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the
    land,
35  Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face
    of the most High,
36  Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the
    Lord hath not approved.
37  Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done,
    when the Lord commandeth it not?
38  Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth
    of the Highest?
39  Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his
    sins?
40  Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the
    Lord.
41  Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord
    in the heavens.
42  Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath:
    therefore thou art inexorable.
43  Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck
    us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
44  Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer
    may not pass through.
45  Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the
    midst of the people.
46  Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47  Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and
    destruction.
48  Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the
    destruction of the daughter of my people.
49  Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because
    there was no rest:
50  Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the
    heavens.
51  Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the
    daughters of my city.
52  Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird,
    without cause.
53  Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid
    a stone over me.
54  Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut
    off.
55  Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest
    pit.
56  Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from
    my sighs, and cries.
57  Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon
    thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
58  Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou
    the Redeemer of my life.
59  Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me:
    judge thou my judgment.
60  Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts
    against me.
61  Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their
    imaginations against me.
62  Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their
    devices against me all the day.
63  Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am
    their song.
64  Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord,
    according to the works of their hands.
65  Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
66  Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt
    destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.


           The Lamentations of Jeremias, Chapter 4

1   Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is
    changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the
    top of every street?
2   Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed
    with the best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen
    vessels, the work of the potter's hands?
3   Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast,
    they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my
    people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert.
4   Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the
    roof of his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked
    for bread, and there was none to break it unto them.
5   He. They that were fed delicately have died in the
    streets; they that were brought up in scarlet have
    embraced the dung.
6   Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made
    greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a
    moment, and hands took nothing in her.
7   Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than
    milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the
    sapphire.
8   Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they
    are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to
    their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood.
9   Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the
    sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these
    pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the
    earth.
10  Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own
    children: they were their meat in the destruction of the
    daughter of my people.
11  Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured
    out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion,
    and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
12  Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of
    the world would not have believed, that the adversary and
    the enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.
13  Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of
    her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the
    midst of her.
14  Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they
    were defiled with blood: and when they could not help
    walking in it, they held up their skirts.
15  Samech. Depart you that are defiled, they cried out to
    them: Depart, get ye hence, touch not: for they
    quarrelled, and being removed, they said among the
    Gentiles: He will no more dwell among them.
16  Phe. The face of the Lord hath divided them, he will no
    more regard them: they respected not the persons of the
    priests, neither had they pity on the ancient.
17  Ain. While we were yet standing, our eyes failed,
    expecting help for us in vain, when we looked attentively
    towards a nation that was not able to save.
18  Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets,
    our end draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end
    is come.
19  Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the
    air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait
    for us in the wilderness.
20  Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in
    our sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live
    among the Gentiles.
21  Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that
    dwellest in the land of Hus: to thee also shall the cup
    come, thou shalt be made drunk, and naked.
22  Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he
    will no more carry thee away into captivity: he visited
    thy iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath discovered thy
    sins.


           The Lamentations of Jeremias, Chapter 5

    The Prayer of Jeremias the Prophet.
1   Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and
    behold our reproach.
2   Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to
    strangers.
3   We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as
    widows.
4   We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our
    wood.
5   We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest
    was given us.
6   We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians,
    that we might be satisfied with bread.
7   Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne
    their iniquities.
8   Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us
    out of their hand.
9   We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of
    the sword in the desert.
10  Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence
    of the famine.
11  They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the
    cities of Juda.
12  The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not
    respect the persons of the ancient.
13  They abused the young men indecently: and the children
    fell under the wood.
14  The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men
    from the choir of the singers.
15  The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into
    mourning.
16  The crown is fallen from our head woe to us, because we
    have sinned.
17  Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes
    become dim,
18  For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked
    upon it.
19  But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from
    generation to generation.
20  Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us
    for a long time?
21  Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted:
    renew our days, as from the beginning.
22  But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly
    angry against us.