Lamentations Cross References - EJ2000

¹ ¶ Aleph How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! The great one among the nations is become as a widow; the princess of provinces is become tributary. ² Beth She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies. ³ Gimel Judah is gone into captivity because of the affliction and because of the greatness of the servitude; she dwells among the Gentiles; she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. ⁴ Daleth The streets of Zion mourn because there are none to come to the solemnities; all her gates are destroyed; her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. ⁵ He Her enemies have been made the head; those who hated her have been prospered; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her rebellions; her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. ⁶ Vau And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed; her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. ⁷ Zain Jerusalem remembered the days of her affliction and of her rebellions and of all her desirable things that she had in the times of old when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and no one helped her; the enemies saw her and mocked at her days of rest. ⁸ Cheth Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she is removed; all that honoured her despise her because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she sighs and is turned backward. ⁹ Teth Her filthiness is in her skirts; she did not remember her latter end; therefore she came down surprisingly; she has no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself. ¹⁰ Jod The enemy has spread out his hand upon all her precious things, and she saw the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation. ¹¹ Caph All her people sought their bread with sadness; they have given all their precious things for food to maintain life; see, O LORD, and consider, for I am become vile. ¹² ¶ Lamed Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is come unto me because the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. ¹³ Mem From upon high he has sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; he has spread a net for my feet; he has turned me back; he has made me desolate and always with pain. ¹⁴ Nun The yoke of my rebellions is bound in his hand; they are wreathed and come up upon my neck; he has made my strength to fall; the Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. ¹⁵ Samech The Lord has trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me; he has called a company against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress. ¹⁶ Ain For these things I weep; my eyes, my eyes stream with water because the comforter that gives rest unto my soul has left me; my sons are desolate because the enemy prevailed. ¹⁷ Pe Zion spread forth her hands and has no comforter; the LORD gave a commandment against Jacob that his enemies should besiege him; Jerusalem was an abomination in the midst of them. ¹⁸ Tzaddi The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his mouth; hear now, all the peoples and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. ¹⁹ Koph I called unto my lovers, but they have deceived me; my priests and my elders in the city perished seeking food to maintain their lives. ²⁰ Resh Look, O LORD; for I am in distress; my bowels are troubled; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled; abroad the sword bereaves; at home there is as death. ²¹ Schin They have heard that I sigh; and there is no comforter for me; all my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it. Thou hast brought the day that thou hast spoken of, but they shall be like unto me. ²² Tau Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them as thou hast done unto me for all my rebellions; for my sighs are many, and my heart is filled with pain.

²¹ And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt, and they brought presents and served Solomon all the days of his life.

³³ And Pharaohnechoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, as he was reigning in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

³⁵ And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he caused the land to be valued to give this money according to the commandment of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of each one according to the estimation of his worth, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.

²⁶ And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.

²⁰ and that there have been mighty kings in Jerusalem, who have ruled over all that is beyond the river, and that toll, tribute, and custom, was paid unto them.

⁴ And there were some that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

³⁷ And it multiplies its fruit for the kings, whom thou hast set over us because of our sins, who have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle, according to their will, and we are in great distress.

⁴ Because the tribes went up there, the tribes of JAH, the testimony to Israel, to praise the name of the LORD.

²⁶ Thy gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst claim the Gentiles as an inheritance!

² Thou that art full of tumults, a tumultuous city, a joyous city, thy dead are not slain with the sword nor slain in battle.

¹ ¶ Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground, without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no longer be called tender and delicate. ² Take the millstones and grind meal; uncover thy locks, remove the shoes from thy feet, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. ³ Thy nakedness shall be uncovered and thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not help any man. ⁴ As for our redeemer, the LORD of the hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. ⁵ Sit, be silent, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no longer be called, The lady of kingdoms. ⁶ I was wroth with my people; I have profaned my inheritance and given them into thine hand; thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient thou hast very heavily laid thy yoke. ⁷ ¶ And thou didst say, I shall be a lady for ever. Until now thou hast not laid these things to heart, neither didst thou remember thy latter end. ⁸ Therefore now hear this, thou delicate one, that dost sit in confidence and say in thine heart, I am, and no one else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I be fatherless. ⁹ But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day; the loss of thy fathers and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. ¹⁰ For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, No one sees me. Thy wisdom and thine own knowledge; it has deceived thee; for thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and no one else beside me. ¹¹ Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from where it rises; and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and destruction shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. ¹² Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries in which thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to better thyself, if so be thou may prevail. ¹³ Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now those that contemplate the heavens, those that speculate regarding the stars, those that teach the courses of the moon, stand up and defend thee from these things that shall come upon thee. ¹⁴ Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver their lives from the hand of the flame; there shall not be a coal left to warm at, nor light to sit before it. ¹⁵ Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander each one to his own way; there shall be no one to save thee.

⁵ The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

² Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

⁷ ¶ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace, that brings good tidings of good, that publishes saving health, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigns!

⁴ Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

¹¹ And I will make Jerusalem heaps and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

⁹ And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the Gentiles!

¹ ¶ Aleph How has the Lord darkened the daughter of Zion in his anger! He has cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel and not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger!

¹⁰ ¶ Jod The elders of the daughter of Zion sat upon the ground and are silent: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the daughters of Jerusalem hung their heads down to the ground.

¹ ¶ Aleph How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are scattered through the crossings of every street.

¹⁶ The crown is fallen from our head; woe now unto us, for we have sinned!

¹⁶ Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones and lay away their robes and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground and shall tremble at every moment and be astonished at thee.

¹⁵ This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! anyone that passes by her shall hiss and wag his hand.

⁴ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; Old men and old women shall yet dwell there in the streets of Jerusalem, and each one with his staff in his hand for the multitude of the days. ⁵ And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls who shall play in them.

⁷ As much as she has glorified herself and lived deliciously, give her that much torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

¹⁶ and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls! ¹⁷ For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster and all the company in ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off

¹⁵ My brethren have lied to me as a brook; they passed away as an impetuous stream,

³ so I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

¹³ He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are verily estranged from me. ¹⁴ My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

⁶ I am weary with my groaning; all the night I flood my bed; I water my couch with my tears.

¹¹ I was a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to my acquaintances: those that see me without flee from me.

² In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my sore bled in the night and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted. ³ I remembered God and cried out; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. ⁴ Thou didst hold my eyelids open; I am broken and did not speak. ⁵ I have considered the days from the beginning, the years of the ages. ⁶ I call to remembrance my songs of the night; I commune with my own heart, and my spirit made diligent search.

⁷ All the brethren of the poor hate him; how much more shall his friends separate themselves from him? He shall seek their friendship and not find it.

¹⁸ There is no one to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any that takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has brought up. ¹⁹ These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword. Who shall comfort thee?

¹ ¶ They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, shall he return unto her again? Is she not a land that is now completely polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, said the LORD.

³⁰ And thou who art destroyed, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with crimson, though thou deck thee with ornaments of gold, though thou paint thy eyes with antimony, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee; they will seek thy life.

¹ ¶ Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

¹⁷ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Consider ye and call for the mourning women that they may come and send for cunning women that they may come, ¹⁸ and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters. ¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we destroyed! We are greatly confounded. Why have we forsaken the land? Why have our dwellings cast us out?

¹⁷ But if ye will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret because of your pride; and weeping bitterly, my eyes shall be undone in tears because the LORD’s flock was carried away captive.

²⁰ ¶ Go up to Lebanon and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan and cry unto all parts: for all thy lovers are destroyed. ²¹ I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou didst say, I will not hear. This has been thy way from thy youth, that thou hast never heard my voice. ²² The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confound thyself because of all thy malice.

¹⁴ All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they do not seek thee; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the whip of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

⁹ Teth Her filthiness is in her skirts; she did not remember her latter end; therefore she came down surprisingly; she has no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself.

¹⁶ Ain For these things I weep; my eyes, my eyes stream with water because the comforter that gives rest unto my soul has left me; my sons are desolate because the enemy prevailed. ¹⁷ Pe Zion spread forth her hands and has no comforter; the LORD gave a commandment against Jacob that his enemies should besiege him; Jerusalem was an abomination in the midst of them.

¹⁹ Koph I called unto my lovers, but they have deceived me; my priests and my elders in the city perished seeking food to maintain their lives.

²¹ Schin They have heard that I sigh; and there is no comforter for me; all my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it. Thou hast brought the day that thou hast spoken of, but they shall be like unto me.

¹¹ Caph My eyes fail with tears; my bowels are troubled; my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and the sucklings faint in the streets of the city.

¹⁸ Tsade Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion; let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. ¹⁹ Koph Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches; pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

³⁷ therefore, behold that I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure and all those that thou hast loved, with all those that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

²² ¶ Therefore, O Aholibah, thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy desire is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side: ²³ the Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, rulers, and princes, and captains, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men; all of them captains and rulers, great lords and renowned; all of them riding upon horses. ²⁴ And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with a multitude of peoples, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about, and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their laws. ²⁵ And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal with thee in furor; they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and what is left shall fall by the sword; they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy remnant shall be devoured by the fire.

⁷ And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them; then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.

⁵ Do not believe in a friend, do not trust in a prince; from her that lies at thy side, take care, open not thy mouth.

¹³ These have one mind and shall give their power and authority unto the beast.

¹⁶ And the ten horns which thou didst see upon the beast, these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

³⁶ And upon those that are left alive of you I will send such cowardice into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, that the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursue. ³⁷ And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursue; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ And ye shall perish among the Gentiles, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. ³⁹ And those that are left of you shall pine away for their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and for the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

⁶⁴ And the LORD shall scatter thee among all the peoples from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. ⁶⁵ Neither shalt thou find rest among these Gentiles, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but there the LORD shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of soul; ⁶⁶ and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life. ⁶⁷ In the morning thou shalt say, I wish it were evening, and in the evening thou shalt say, I wish it were morning! For the fear of thine heart with which thou shalt fear and for that which thine eyes shall see.

¹⁴ And he carried away all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained except the poorest sort of the people of the land. ¹⁵ He likewise carried Jehoiachin away to Babylon and the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officers, and the mighty of the land; he carried them all into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

¹¹ Now the rest of the people that were left in the city and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away.

²¹ And the king of Babylon smote and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.

²⁰ And those that escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; where they were slaves to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹ to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had fulfilled her sabbaths; for all the time of her desolation she rested until the seventy years were fulfilled.

¹⁹ The cities of the south were shut up, and no one could open them: Judah was carried away captive; all of it, it was completely carried away captive.

¹⁶ Behold, I send many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after, will I send many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

⁹ And I give them to be removed, for evil unto all the kingdoms of the earth, for infamy, and for reproach and for a proverb, and for a curse unto all the places where I shall drive them.

⁹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that had come over to him, with the rest of the people that remained.

⁸ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and took Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and the fugitives that had fled to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

²⁷ And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. ²⁸ This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand and twenty-three Jews: ²⁹ In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons: ³⁰ In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand six hundred.

⁹ Teth Her gates were thrown to the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are carried off among the Gentiles; there is no law; nor have her prophets found vision from the LORD.

¹⁸ Tzaddi They hunt our steps that we cannot walk in our streets; our end came near; our days were fulfilled; for our end is come. ¹⁹ Koph Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the heaven; they pursued us upon the mountains; they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

¹² A third part of thee shall die of pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee, and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

¹ ¶ I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said, Smite the threshold and shake the doors and cut the head of them all into pieces; and I will slay the last of them with the sword; there shall be none of them left to flee away or to escape. ² Though they dig unto Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down; ³ and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out of there; and though they hide from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: ⁴ and though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

⁴ The earth has destroyed itself and fallen; the world has become sick and fallen; the haughty peoples of the earth are become sick. ⁵ The earth is also become bankrupt under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, falsified the order, broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶ Therefore the curse has consumed the earth, and those that dwell therein are found guilty; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are consumed, and few men left.

⁹ ¶ Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. ¹⁰ Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, and the harvest shall not come in. ¹¹ Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make yourselves bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. ¹² Upon their breasts they shall lament for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. ¹³ Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; even upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: ¹⁴ Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the noise of the city shall cease; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

²² Behold, the voice of the rumour is come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north wind to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.

² Judah mourns, and its gates languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

¹⁰ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said: Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say is desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, ¹¹ the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of those that shall say, Praise the LORD of the hosts; for the LORD is good; for his mercy endures for ever: and of those that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause the captivity of the land to turn as at the first, said the LORD. ¹² Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, there shall be booths of shepherds who shall cause the flocks to lie down.

¹¹ Caph All her people sought their bread with sadness; they have given all their precious things for food to maintain life; see, O LORD, and consider, for I am become vile. ¹² ¶ Lamed Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is come unto me because the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

¹⁸ Tzaddi The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his mouth; hear now, all the peoples and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. ¹⁹ Koph I called unto my lovers, but they have deceived me; my priests and my elders in the city perished seeking food to maintain their lives. ²⁰ Resh Look, O LORD; for I am in distress; my bowels are troubled; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled; abroad the sword bereaves; at home there is as death.

⁶ Vau And he has violently taken away his tabernacle as if it were of a garden; he has destroyed his congregation; the LORD has caused the solemnities and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and has rejected in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. ⁷ Zain The Lord has cast off his altar; he has abhorred his sanctuary; he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have shouted in the house of the LORD as in the day of a feast.

⁹ Teth Her gates were thrown to the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are carried off among the Gentiles; there is no law; nor have her prophets found vision from the LORD. ¹⁰ ¶ Jod The elders of the daughter of Zion sat upon the ground and are silent: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the daughters of Jerusalem hung their heads down to the ground. ¹¹ Caph My eyes fail with tears; my bowels are troubled; my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and the sucklings faint in the streets of the city.

¹⁹ Koph Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches; pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street. ²⁰ Resh Look, O LORD, and consider unto whom thou hast shaken thus. Shall the women eat their fruit, the little ones that they are bringing up? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? ²¹ Schin The young and the old lay on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men fell by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed and hast not forgiven.

¹³ They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

⁸ ¶ Lament like a young woman girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. ⁹ The grain offering and the drink offering of the house of the LORD has perished; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn. ¹⁰ The field was destroyed, the land mourns; for the wheat was destroyed; the new wine was dried up, the oil perished. ¹¹ Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is lost. ¹² The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has perished; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, have withered: therefore joy has withered away from the sons of men. ¹³ Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the present and the drink offering is taken away from the house of your God.

¹² Therefore for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

¹⁵ and if ye shall despise my statutes or if your soul should abhor my rights so that ye will not do all my commandments but that ye break my covenant, ¹⁶ I also will do this unto you: I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and torment the soul, and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ And I will place my wrath upon you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; those that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when no one pursues you. ¹⁸ And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹ And I will break the pride of your stronghold, and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as bronze. ²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. ²¹ And if ye walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. ²² I will also send wild beasts among you which shall rapture your children and destroy your animals and make you few in number, and your ways shall be desolate. ²³ And if ye will not be corrected by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me, ²⁴ then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. ²⁵ And I will bring an avenging sword upon you, in vindication of the covenant; and ye shall gather together within your cities; but I will send pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ²⁶ When I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight, and ye shall eat and not be satisfied. ²⁷ And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me but walk contrary unto me, ²⁸ then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury, and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. ²⁹ And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. ³⁰ And I will destroy your high places and cut down your images and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. ³¹ And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the aroma of your suave incense. ³² And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell therein shall be astonished at it. ³³ And I will scatter you among the Gentiles and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. ³⁴ Then shall the land rest for her sabbaths all the days that it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths. ³⁵ All the time that it shall be desolate, it shall rest that which it did not rest in your sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it. ³⁶ And upon those that are left alive of you I will send such cowardice into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, that the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursue. ³⁷ And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursue; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ And ye shall perish among the Gentiles, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. ³⁹ And those that are left of you shall pine away for their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and for the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. ⁴⁰ ¶ And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers for their trespass which they trespassed against me and that also they have walked contrary unto me, ⁴¹ and that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; and then their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled, and they shall plead because of their iniquity; ⁴² and I will remember my covenant with Jacob and likewise my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ That the land shall be without them and shall rest her sabbaths, being desolate because of them; and they shall plead because of their iniquity because they despised my rights and their soul abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I AM their God. ⁴⁵ But I will remember them because of the old covenant, when I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the Gentiles, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. ⁴⁶ These are the statutes and rights and laws, which the LORD established between him and the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

²⁵ When thou shalt beget children and grandchildren and ye shall have remained long in the land and shall corrupt yourselves and make a graven image or the likeness of any thing and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger, ²⁶ I put heaven and earth as witnesses today that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land unto which ye pass the Jordan to inherit it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it without being utterly destroyed. ²⁷ And the LORD shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the Gentiles, unto whom the LORD shall take you.

¹⁵ ¶ And it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep, to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee today, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. ¹⁶ Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy cows and the flocks of thy sheep. ¹⁹ Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. ²⁰ The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, destruction and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand to do, until thou art destroyed and perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings, by which thou hast forsaken me. ²¹ The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until he has consumed thee from off the land into which thou dost enter to inherit it. ²² The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption and with a fever and with an inflammation and with an extreme burning and with the sword and with blight and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. ²³ And thy heavens which are over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. ²⁴ The LORD shall make the rain of thy land dust and ashes; from the heavens it shall come down upon thee, until thou art destroyed. ²⁵ The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them and shalt be an object of trembling unto all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And thy carcase shall be food unto all fowls of the air and unto the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The LORD will smite thee with the boil of Egypt and with the hemorrhoids and with the scab and with the itch, of which thou canst not be healed. ²⁸ The LORD shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart. ²⁹ And thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind grope in the darkness, and thou shalt not be prospered in thy ways; and thou shalt only be oppressed and spoiled all the days, and there shall be no one to save thee. ³⁰ Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. ³¹ Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof; thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face and shall not be restored to thee; thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have no one to rescue them. ³² Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long; and there shall be no strength in thine hand. ³³ The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a people which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt only be oppressed and crushed all the days. ³⁴ So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. ³⁵ The LORD shall smite thee in the knees and in the legs with an evil boil that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. ³⁶ The LORD shall bring thee and thy king which thou shalt set over thee unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there shalt thou serve other gods, even wood and stone. ³⁷ And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD shall carry thee away. ³⁸ Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field and shalt gather but little in, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰ Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall fall. ⁴¹ Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. ⁴³ The stranger that is in the midst of thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou shalt come down very low. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. ⁴⁵ ¶ Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee until thou art destroyed because thou shalt not have attended unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee; ⁴⁶ and they shall be in thee for a sign and for a wonder, and in thy seed for ever. ⁴⁷ Because thou didst not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; ⁴⁸ therefore, thou shalt serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in lack of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he has destroyed thee. ⁴⁹ The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old nor show favour to the young; ⁵¹ and he shall eat the fruit of thy beast and the fruit of thy land until thou art destroyed, which also shall not leave thee either grain, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy cows or flocks of thy sheep until he has destroyed thee. ⁵² And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates until thy high and fenced walls come down, in which thou dost trust, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God has given thee. ⁵³ And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God has given thee, in the siege and in the straitness with which thine enemies shall distress thee. ⁵⁴ The man that is tender among you and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife of his bosom and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he shall have nothing left him in the siege and in the straitness with which thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom and toward her son and toward her daughter ⁵⁷ and toward her young one that comes out from between her feet and toward her children which she shall bear, for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness with which thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates, ⁵⁸ if thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book that thou may fear this glorious and fearful name; I AM thy God. ⁵⁹ Then the LORD will augment thy plagues wonderfully, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues and of long continuance, and evil sicknesses and of long continuance. ⁶⁰ Moreover, he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon thee until thou art destroyed. ⁶² And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou would not hear the voice of the LORD thy God. ⁶³ And it shall come to pass that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land into which thou dost enter in to inherit it. ⁶⁴ And the LORD shall scatter thee among all the peoples from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. ⁶⁵ Neither shalt thou find rest among these Gentiles, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but there the LORD shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of soul; ⁶⁶ and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life. ⁶⁷ In the morning thou shalt say, I wish it were evening, and in the evening thou shalt say, I wish it were morning! For the fear of thine heart with which thou shalt fear and for that which thine eyes shall see. ⁶⁸ And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again in ships by the way of which I spoke unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again; and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for menslaves and womenslaves, and there shall be no one to buy you.

¹⁸ Peradventure there shall be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those Gentiles; peradventure there shall be among you a root that bears poison and wormwood; ¹⁹ and it shall be, when that one hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. ²⁰ The LORD will not forgive him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law. ²² So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid upon it, ²³ and that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt and burning, that it is not sown, nor shall it produce anything, nor shall any grass grow therein, like in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and in his wrath; ²⁴ even all Gentiles shall say, Why has the LORD done thus unto this land? What means the heat of this great anger? ²⁵ Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt; ²⁶ for they went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not and who had not given anything unto them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book. ²⁸ And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation and cast them into another land, as it is today.

¹⁶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people shall rise up and fornicate after the gods of the strangers of the land where they go when they shall be among them and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that same day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? ¹⁸ But I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

²⁹ For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days because ye will have done evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

¹⁵ ¶ But Jeshurun (the upright one) waxed fat and kicked; (thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou hast covered thyself) and forsook the God who made him and lightly esteemed the strong One of his saving health. ¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. ¹⁷ They sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came from nearby, whom your fathers feared not. ¹⁸ Of the strong One that begat thee thou art unmindful and hast forgotten the God that travailed for thee. ¹⁹ ¶ And when the LORD saw it, his wrath was kindled because of his sons and of his daughters. ²⁰ And he said, I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end shall be: that they are a generation of perversities, sons without faith. ²¹ They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I also will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with foolish Gentiles. ²² For fire shall be kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest part of Sheol and shall consume the earth with her fruit and burn up the foundations of the mountains. ²³ I will heap evils upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them. ²⁴ They shall be consumed with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. ²⁵ The sword without and terror within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. ²⁶ ¶ I said I would shatter them in pieces: I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men, ²⁷ if I did not fear the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should become vain and lest they should say, Our high hand has done this and not the LORD.

¹⁴ Moreover, all the princes of the priests and the people increased the rebellion, rebelling according to all the abominations of the Gentiles and polluting the house of the LORD which he had sanctified in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by the hand of his messengers, rising up early, and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, and there was no remedy.

³³ Howbeit thou art just in all that has come upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly; ³⁴ neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, with which thou didst testify against them.

⁶ Thou dost make us a strife unto our neighbours, and our enemies laugh at us among themselves.

⁴² Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

⁷ ¶ For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath we are troubled. ⁸ Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

¹⁸ The people of thy holiness have possessed the promised land but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

³ O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they did not feel it; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive chastisement; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. ⁴ Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they have become foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD nor the judgment of their God. ⁵ I will go unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. ⁶ Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them and a tiger shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their rebellions have been multiplied, and their backslidings are increased. ⁷ How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy sons have forsaken me and sworn by them that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. ⁸ They were as fed horses in the morning; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife. ⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? said the LORD; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

²⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

⁷ ¶ I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

¹⁴ I have also seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they committed adultery and walked by lies; they strengthened also the hands of evildoers, that no none is converted from his malice; they are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

¹⁴ All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they do not seek thee; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the whip of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased. ¹⁵ Why dost thou cry out for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the greatness of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

²¹ The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them and did it not come into his mind? ²² So that the LORD could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

¹⁸ Tzaddi The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his mouth; hear now, all the peoples and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

¹⁷ Ain The LORD has done that which he had determined; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded from the time of old; he has destroyed and has not forgiven; and he has caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee; he has raised up the horn of thine adversaries.

³⁹ Mem Why does the living man have pain, the man in his sins? ⁴⁰ Nun Let us search out our ways, and seek, and turn again to the LORD. ⁴¹ Nun Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. ⁴² ¶ Nun We have rebelled and been disloyal; therefore thou hast not forgiven. ⁴³ Samech Thou hast unfurled anger and persecuted us; thou hast slain, thou hast not forgiven.

⁴⁶ Pe All our enemies have opened their mouths upon us.

¹⁷ Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For after they have filled the land with evil and have returned to provoke me to anger; behold, they put the stench to my nose. ¹⁸ Therefore I will also deal in fury: my eye shall not forgive, neither will I have mercy: and they shall cry in my ears with a loud voice; yet I will not hear them.

⁹ Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness, for they have said, The LORD has forsaken the earth, and the LORD does not see.

²⁴ Son of man, say unto her, Thou art not clean land, nor art thou sprinkled with rain in the day of indignation. ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken treasures and honour; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. ²⁶ Her priests have violated my law by force and have profaned my holy things; they have made no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to follow their own greed. ²⁸ And her prophets have plastered them over with loose mud, prophesying vanity and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus hath the Lord GOD said, when the LORD has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have done violence unto the poor and needy; they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. ³⁰ And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found no one. ³¹ Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have recompensed their own way upon their heads, said the Lord GOD.

⁷ O Lord, the righteousness belongs unto thee, but unto us the confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near and that are far off through all the lands where thou hast driven them because of their rebellion with which they have rebelled against thee. ⁸ O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. ⁹ Of the Lord our God is the ability to have mercy and to forgive, even though we have rebelled against him ¹⁰ and have not listened to the voice of the LORD our God to walk by his laws, which he set before us by the hand of his slaves the prophets. ¹¹ And all Israel transposed thy law, departing by not hearing thy voice; by which the curse has fallen upon us and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the slave of God, because we have sinned against him. ¹² And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke over us and over our judges that governed us, by bringing upon us such a great evil: that such has never been done under the whole heaven as has been done upon Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us, and we never sought the face of the LORD our God, that we might be converted from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. ¹⁴ And the LORD hastened upon the chastisement and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is just in all his works which he has done, for we did not listen to his voice. ¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and hast won for thyself a very clear name as appears unto this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. ¹⁶ O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and all thy people is given in reproach to all that are about us.

⁹ Now hear this, ye heads of the house of Jacob and captains of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment and pervert all equity; ¹⁰ that build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity; ¹¹ the heads thereof judge for bribes, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they come near unto the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? No evil can come upon us. ¹² Therefore for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

⁸ Do not rejoice against me, O my enemy; for if I have fallen, I shall arise; if I sit in darkness, the LORD is my light. ⁹ I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he has judged my cause and executed my judgment; he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. ¹⁰ Then she that is my enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? my eyes shall behold her: now she shall be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

¹ ¶ Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! ² She did not obey the voice; she did not receive correction; she did not trust in the LORD; she did not draw near to her God. ³ Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they do not leave a bone for tomorrow. ⁴ Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have falsified the law. ⁵ The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: each morning he shall bring his judgment to light; he never fails; but the unjust know no shame. ⁶ I have caused the Gentiles to be cut off: their castles are desolate; I made their streets waste until no one passes by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man left, there is no inhabitant. ⁷ Saying, Surely now thou wilt fear me; thou wilt receive chastisement; so thy dwelling shall not be thrown down, all of which I visited upon her; but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. ⁸ ¶ Therefore wait for me, said the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my judgment is to gather the Gentiles, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them my indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

³⁶ And upon those that are left alive of you I will send such cowardice into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, that the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursue. ³⁷ And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursue; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

²⁵ The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them and shalt be an object of trembling unto all the kingdoms of the earth.

³⁰ How could one chase a thousand and two put ten thousands to flight if their strong One had not sold them, and the LORD had not delivered them up?

¹² Therefore, the sons of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but shall turn their backs before their enemies because they have been in the anathema; neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the anathema from among you. ¹³ Get up, sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow; for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is anathema in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thy enemies until ye take away the anathema from among you.

¹¹ How much more unto wicked men who have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? Shall I not, therefore, now require his blood of your hand and remove you from the earth? ¹² Then David commanded his young men, and they slew them and cut off their hands and their feet and hung them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.

²¹ This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: Has he despised thee? Has he laughed thee to scorn, O virgin daughter of Zion? He has moved his head behind thy back, O daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹ ¶ But thou hast cast us off and put us to shame and doth not go forth with our armies. ¹⁰ Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy, and we are spoiled by those who hate us. ¹¹ Thou hast given us over like sheep appointed for food and hast scattered us among the Gentiles.

² Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. ³ God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined forth.

⁹ O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; fear before him, all the earth.

¹² If thy sons will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their sons shall also sit upon thy throne for ever. ¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired her for his habitation.

²¹ ¶ How is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

⁵ And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon the places of her assemblies a cloud and darkness by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night because over all glory there shall be a covering.

⁶ Rejoice and sing, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

¹⁸ Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down in the dust because the crown of your glory has come down off your heads.

⁵ Even the hind calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass. ⁶ And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed because there was no grass.

⁴ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon,

³ At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;

⁴¹ The cities are taken, and the strong holds are taken, and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

³⁰ The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight; they have remained in their holds; their might has failed; they became as women: the enemies have burned her dwellingplaces; they have broken her bars. ³¹ One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken in all places, ³² And the fords were taken, and they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war were astounded.

⁷ Then the city was breached, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, and they went by the way of the desert, even though the Chaldeans were by the city round about. ⁸ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and took Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

¹¹ But he put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains; and the king of Babylon caused him to be taken to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

¹³ and burned the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burned with fire:

¹ ¶ Aleph How has the Lord darkened the daughter of Zion in his anger! He has cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel and not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger! ² Beth The Lord has destroyed and has not forgiven; he has destroyed in his wrath all the habitations of Jacob; he has thrown down to the ground the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he has polluted the kingdom and its princes. ³ Gimel He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel; he has caused his right hand to draw back in the presence of the enemy, and he burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about. ⁴ Daleth He has bent his bow like an enemy; he strengthened his right hand as an adversary and slew everything of beauty that could be seen in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he poured out his fury like fire. ⁵ He The Lord was as an enemy, he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all her palaces; he has dissipated his strong holds and has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

²⁰ Because they turned the glory of his ornament into pride and made in her the images of their abominations of their statues; therefore I have set it far from them. ²¹ And I gave it into the hands of the strangers for a prey and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it. ²² I will also turn my face from them, and they shall pollute my secret place, for the destroyers shall enter into it and defile it.

²² ¶ Then the cherubim lifted up their wings and the wheels after them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. ²³ And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

²¹ Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the glory of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and the gift of your soul; your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.

²⁵ Also, thou son of man, in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and the care of their souls, their sons and their daughters,

¹⁴ ¶ Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout with joy O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. ¹⁵ The LORD has taken away thy judgments; he has cast out thine enemy; the LORD is king of Israel in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. ¹⁶ In that time it shall be said to Jerusalem, Do not fear; and to Zion, Do not let thine hands be slack. ¹⁷ The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.

⁷ For what nation is there so great who has God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? ⁸ And what nation is there so great that has statutes and rights so just as all this law, which I set before you this day?

³⁴ Or has God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and by wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ Unto thee it was shown that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is no one else other than he. ³⁶ Out of the heavens he made thee to hear his voice that he might instruct thee, and upon earth he showed thee his great fire, and thou hast heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷ And because he loved thy fathers, therefore, he chose their seed after them and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt,

⁷ For the LORD thy God brings thee into a good land, a land of brooks, of waters, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olives, of oil, and honey; ⁹ a land in which thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack any thing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou may dig brass.

² Oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;

⁴ I will remember these things; I will pour out my soul in me. When I shall be included in the number; I will go with them to the house of God with voice of joy and praise, dancing in the multitude.

³ I remembered God and cried out; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

⁵ I have considered the days from the beginning, the years of the ages. ⁶ I call to remembrance my songs of the night; I commune with my own heart, and my spirit made diligent search. ⁷ Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? ⁸ Is his mercy gone for ever? does his word fail from generation to generation? ⁹ Has God forgotten to have mercy? has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

⁴ We are reproached by our neighbours, scorned, and derided by those that are round about us.

³ when there, those that carried us away captive asked us for the words of the song; with our harps of joy hung upon the willows saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. ⁴ How shall we sing the song of the LORD in the land of strangers?

¹⁹ He declares his words unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. ²⁰ He has not dealt so with the other nations, which have not known his judgments. Halelu-JAH.

¹ ¶ Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in the horn of the sons of oil; ² and he had fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. ³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. ⁴ What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Therefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

⁷ Thus hath the LORD, the God of Israel said; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which had come forth to help you, has returned to Egypt into their own land.

¹⁵ Samech All that passed by clapped their hands over thee and whistled and wagged their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? ¹⁶ Pe All thine enemies opened their mouths regarding thee; they whistled and gnashed their teeth; they said, Swallow her up; certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found it, we have seen it.

¹⁷ Ain As for us, our eyes have failed in seeking our vain help; in our watching we have watched for people that cannot save us.

¹¹ But now many nations are gathered against thee that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eyes see our desire carried out upon Zion.

¹⁷ And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have abundance of bread, and I perish here with hunger!

²⁵ But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime didst receive thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted here, and thou art tormented.

³⁰ Therefore, the LORD God of Israel said, I had said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever, but now the LORD said, It shall never be; for those that honor me I will honor, and those that lightly esteem me shall be vile.

⁴⁶ If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that does not sin) and thou should be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near, ⁴⁷ and they return unto their heart in the land where they were carried captives and return and make supplication unto thee in the land of those that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned and have done iniquity, we have committed wickedness;

⁷ I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them, and this house, which I have sanctified unto my name, I will cast out of my sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples;

⁹ And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt and have taken hold upon other gods and have worshipped them and served them; for this the LORD has brought upon them all this evil.

³ Thy nakedness shall be uncovered and thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not help any man.

² But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. ³ For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips pronounce lies; your tongue speaks evil. ⁴ No one calls for righteousness, nor do any judge by the truth; they trust in vanity, and speak vanities; they conceive trouble and bring forth iniquity. ⁵ They hatch cockatrice’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; whosoever shall eat of their eggs shall die, and if they should squeeze them, a viper shall come out. ⁶ Their cloth is unfit to be a garment, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of violence, and the work of iniquity is in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are their paths. ⁸ The way of peace they did not know; nor is there anything straight about their ways; they have wilfully made themselves crooked paths; whosoever goes therein shall not know peace. ⁹ ¶ Therefore judgment has withdrawn from us, and righteousness has never overtaken us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. ¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind, and as if we had no eyes we walk by touch; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in graves as dead men. ¹¹ We all roar like bears and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for saving health, but it has withdrawn from us. ¹² For our rebellions are multiplied before thee, and our sins have testified against us; for our iniquities are with us; and we know our sins: ¹³ To rebel and to lie against the LORD, and to depart away from our God; the speaking of libel and rebellion, to conceive, and to speak from the heart words of falsehood,

³¹ For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is faint because of the murderers.

²⁸ They are all rebellious princes; they walk with deception: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

²² ¶ When thou shalt say in thine heart, Why do these things come upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare.

²⁶ Therefore I uncovered thy skirts before thy face, and thy shame was manifested.

⁴ And I will give them over to be sifted by all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Therefore thus hath the LORD said: Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, each one to his brother and each man to his neighbour; behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, said the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁴ Daleth The streets of Zion mourn because there are none to come to the solemnities; all her gates are destroyed; her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. ⁵ He Her enemies have been made the head; those who hated her have been prospered; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her rebellions; her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

¹¹ Caph All her people sought their bread with sadness; they have given all their precious things for food to maintain life; see, O LORD, and consider, for I am become vile.

²⁰ Resh Look, O LORD; for I am in distress; my bowels are troubled; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled; abroad the sword bereaves; at home there is as death. ²¹ Schin They have heard that I sigh; and there is no comforter for me; all my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it. Thou hast brought the day that thou hast spoken of, but they shall be like unto me. ²² Tau Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them as thou hast done unto me for all my rebellions; for my sighs are many, and my heart is filled with pain.

¹⁵ Samech They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not because they were contaminated; and when they were thrust through, they said among the Gentiles, They shall never dwell here again. ¹⁶ Pe The anger of the LORD has separated them; he will never look upon them again. They did not respect the countenance of the priests, nor did they have compassion on the elders.

²¹ ¶ Schin Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup shall also pass even unto thee; thou shalt be drunken and shalt vomit.

¹² Princes were hanged up by their hand; the countenance of the elders was not honoured. ¹³ They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. ¹⁴ The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. ¹⁵ The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. ¹⁶ The crown is fallen from our head; woe now unto us, for we have sinned!

¹³ Son of man, when the land sins against me by rebelling blatantly and I stretch out my hand upon her and break the staff of the bread thereof and send famine upon her and cut off man and beast out of her ¹⁴ though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in the midst of her, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, said the Lord GOD. ¹⁵ If I cause an evil beast to pass through the land and destroy her so that it be desolate that there be no one to pass through because of the beast ¹⁶ though these three men were in the midst of her, as I live, said the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither their sons nor their daughters; they only shall be delivered, and the land shall be destroyed. ¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword upon the land and say: Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast out of her; ¹⁸ though these three men were in the midst of her, as I live, said the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither their sons nor their daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. ¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my fury upon her in blood to cut off out of her man and beast ²⁰ though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in the midst of her, as I live, said the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. ²¹ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: How much more if I send my four sore judgments against Jerusalem: the sword, the famine, the evil beast, the pestilence, to cut off out of her man and beast?

³⁷ therefore, behold that I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure and all those that thou hast loved, with all those that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. ³⁸ And I will judge thee by the laws regarding women who commit adultery and those that shed blood; and I will give thee away in blood of fury and of jealousy. ³⁹ And I will deliver thee into their hand, and they shall destroy thy high place and shall break down thy altars; they shall strip thee also of thy clothes and shall take the vessels of thy glory and shall leave thee naked and bare.

² Now, thou son of man, wilt thou not judge, wilt thou not judge the city that spills innocent blood and cause her to know all her abominations? ³ Then thou shalt say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said, City that sheds blood in the midst of thyself, that thy time may come, and that has made idols against thyself to defile thyself! ⁴ In thy blood that thou hast shed thou hast sinned and hast defiled thyself with thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near and art come even unto thy years; therefore I have given thee in reproach unto the Gentiles, and in shame unto all the countries. ⁵ Those that are near and those that are far from thee shall mock thee, who art infamous and much vexed. ⁶ Behold, the princes of Israel, each one according to their power, were in thee to shed blood. ⁷ In thee they have despised father and mother; in the midst of thee they have dealt by oppression with the stranger; in thee they have vexed the fatherless and the widow. ⁸ Thou hast despised my holy things and hast profaned my sabbaths. ⁹ In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood; and in thee they eat upon the mountains; in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. ¹⁰ In thee they have discovered their fathers’ nakedness; in thee they have forced the unclean menstruous woman. ¹¹ And one has committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee has forced his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹² In thee they have taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion and hast forgotten me, said the Lord GOD. ¹³ Behold, therefore I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made and at thy blood which has been in the midst of thee. ¹⁴ Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it and will do it. ¹⁵ And I will scatter thee among the Gentiles and disperse thee in the countries and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

²⁹ And they shall deal with thee hatefully and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be uncovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

⁴⁶ For thus hath the Lord GOD said: I will bring up a company upon them and will give them to be removed and spoiled.

³ lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that she was born and make her as a wilderness and set her like a dry land and slay her with thirst.

¹⁰ And now I will uncover her folly in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of my hand.

¹⁸ I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined in the fire, that thou may be made rich; and clothed in white raiment, so that the shame of thy nakedness not be uncovered; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou may see.

⁷ ¶ And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

¹⁷ and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

³¹ And the people believed; and hearing that the LORD had visited the sons of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed and worshipped.

⁷ And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labour and our oppression.

²⁷ if I did not fear the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should become vain and lest they should say, Our high hand has done this and not the LORD.

²⁹ O that they were wise, if they were prudent, they would understand their latter end!

¹¹ and she vowed a vow and said, O LORD of the hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid and remember me and not forget thy handmaid but wilt give unto thy handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.

¹² It may be that the LORD will look on my affliction and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.

²⁶ For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, for there was no one shut up nor any left nor any to help Israel;

³² Now, therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and terrible God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, on our priests, on our prophets, on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

¹⁸ Resh Look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins.

⁸ They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them at once; they have burned up all the meeting places of the people of God in the earth. ⁹ We no longer see our own banners; there is no longer any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows. How long shall this be?

²² Arise, O God, plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily. ²³ Forget not the voices of thine enemies; the tumult of those that rise up against thee increases continually.

¹⁵³ ¶ RESH. Consider my affliction and deliver me; for I have not forgotten thy law.

⁸ ¶ Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not further his wicked thought lest they exalt themselves. Selah.

¹ ¶ So I returned and considered all the violence that is done under the sun and behold the tears of such as are oppressed, and they have no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but the oppressed had no comforter.

⁸ For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings have been against the LORD, to irritate the eyes of his majesty.

⁴ It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to blaspheme the living God and to reprove with the words which the LORD thy God has heard; therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is still left.

¹⁷ Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent his messengers to blaspheme the living God.

²³ Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

²⁹ Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou didst come.

² Speak ye according to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her that her time is now fulfilled that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

⁷ ¶ And thou didst say, I shall be a lady for ever. Until now thou hast not laid these things to heart, neither didst thou remember thy latter end.

¹¹ ¶ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will cement thy stones upon carbuncle and lay thy foundations upon sapphires.

³⁴ Even in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; thou didst not find them in any trespass, but by all these things.

³¹ The prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bore rule by their hands; and my people love to have it so. What will ye do in the end thereof?

¹⁷ But if ye will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret because of your pride; and weeping bitterly, my eyes shall be undone in tears because the LORD’s flock was carried away captive. ¹⁸ Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down in the dust because the crown of your glory has come down off your heads.

²⁷ I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom upon the hills; in the same field I saw thine abominations. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean at last? How long then shall it be?

⁷ neither shall they break the bread of mourning for them, to comfort themselves for their death; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

²⁶ Make him drunken, for he magnified himself against the LORD; Moab shall also wallow in his vomit, and be in derision.

²⁹ Call together the archers against Babylon; all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her; for she has become proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

¹ ¶ Aleph How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! The great one among the nations is become as a widow; the princess of provinces is become tributary. ² Beth She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.

¹⁷ Pe Zion spread forth her hands and has no comforter; the LORD gave a commandment against Jacob that his enemies should besiege him; Jerusalem was an abomination in the midst of them.

¹³ Mem What witness shall I take to thee? Or unto whom shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? Unto whom shall I compare thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is as great as the sea: who shall heal thee?

¹² In fraud she has become weary, and her great scum did not go forth out of her; her scum shall be in the fire. ¹³ In thy perverse filthiness thou shalt die because I have cleansed thee, and thou didst not cleanse thyself from thy uncleanness; thou shalt never cleanse thyself again, until I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

¹⁷ Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy slave and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is made desolate, by the Lord. ¹⁸ O my God, incline thine ear and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee confiding in our righteousnesses, but in thy many mercies. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

¹⁴ ¶ Therefore, behold, I will induce her and bring her into the wilderness and speak unto her heart.

¹⁰ This shall come upon them for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of the hosts.

¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

⁴ opposing and exalting himself against all that is called God, or divinity, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, making himself appear to be God. ⁵ Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ⁶ And ye know what impedes this now, that he might be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of iniquity is already working, except that he who dominates now will dominate until he is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and remove with the clarity of his coming:

¹⁷ For it is time that the judgment begins from the house of God; and if it first begins with us, what shall the end be of those that do not obey the gospel of God?

³ An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever,

¹ ¶ On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and it was found written therein that the Ammonites and the Moabites should not come into the congregation of God forever

⁴ Thine enemies have roared in the midst of thy assemblies; they set up their own banners for signs. ⁵ Renowned, as one on the way to heaven, he who lifted up axes upon the thick trees for the work of the sanctuary. ⁶ But now they break down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers. ⁷ They have set fire to thy sanctuaries; they have defiled the tabernacle of thy name in the earth. ⁸ They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them at once; they have burned up all the meeting places of the people of God in the earth.

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. ¶ O God, the Gentiles are come into thine inheritance; they have defiled the temple of thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. ² The dead bodies of thy slaves they have given to be food unto the fowls of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. ³ They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. ⁴ We are reproached by our neighbours, scorned, and derided by those that are round about us. ⁵ How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? ⁶ ¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon thy name. ⁷ For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.

¹³ Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge; their glory died of hunger, and their multitude dried up of thirst. ¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has enlarged himself and opened his mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude descended into it and their pomp and he that rejoiced in him.

¹⁰ Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ Our house of our Sanctuary and of our glory, where our fathers praised thee, was burned up with fire; and all our precious things were destroyed.

¹³ Thy riches and thy treasures I will give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

⁵ Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city and all its labours and all its precious things and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who shall spoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon.

⁵¹ We are ashamed, because we have heard the reproach; confusion has covered our faces; for strangers are come against the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house.

¹⁷ Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. ¹⁸ The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away. ¹⁹ And the basins, and the censers, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, the captain of the guard took away. ²⁰ The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels could not be weighed.

⁷ Zain Jerusalem remembered the days of her affliction and of her rebellions and of all her desirable things that she had in the times of old when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and no one helped her; the enemies saw her and mocked at her days of rest.

²² I will also turn my face from them, and they shall pollute my secret place, for the destroyers shall enter into it and defile it.

⁷ And he said unto them, Defile the house and fill the courts with the slain; go forth. And they went forth and slew in the city.

⁷ In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuary to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.

¹⁴ ¶ But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation (spoken of by Daniel the prophet) standing where it ought not, he that reads, let him understand, then let those that are in Judaea flee to the mountains;

⁵² And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates until thy high and fenced walls come down, in which thou dost trust, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God has given thee. ⁵³ And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God has given thee, in the siege and in the straitness with which thine enemies shall distress thee. ⁵⁴ The man that is tender among you and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife of his bosom and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he shall have nothing left him in the siege and in the straitness with which thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom and toward her son and toward her daughter ⁵⁷ and toward her young one that comes out from between her feet and toward her children which she shall bear, for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness with which thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates,

¹¹ And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread to eat and water to drink, ¹² and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two bunches of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

²⁵ And there was a great famine in Samaria as they besieged it until an ass’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.

⁴ Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand over my mouth.

¹⁵ ¶ Samech Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. ¹⁶ Ain Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted. ¹⁷ Tzaddi The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring thou me out of my distresses. ¹⁸ Resh Look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins. ¹⁹ Resh Consider my enemies, for they are multiplied; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, with which their enemies and those that seek their souls shall straiten them.

⁹ My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in the city.

⁶ And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine prevailed in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

¹² Lamed They said to their mothers, Where is the wheat and the wine? fainting as the dead in the streets of the city, pouring out their souls into their mothers’ bosom.

²⁰ Resh Look, O LORD, and consider unto whom thou hast shaken thus. Shall the women eat their fruit, the little ones that they are bringing up? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

⁴ Daleth The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask for bread, and there was no one to break it unto them. ⁵ He Those that did feed delicately are made desolate in the streets; those that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. ⁶ Vau For the iniquity of the daughter of my people has increased more than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and companies did not camp upon her. ⁷ Zain Her Nazarites were whiter than snow; they were more radiant than milk; their composure had more fire than the precious stones cut from sapphire: ⁸ Cheth Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered; it is dry like a stick. ⁹ Teth Those slain with the sword are better than those slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the earth. ¹⁰ Jod The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹⁵ Then he said unto me, Behold, I give thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread with it. ¹⁶ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I break the sustenance of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anguish; and they shall drink water by measure, and with terror. ¹⁷ For they shall lack bread and water, and terrorize one another, and faint because of their iniquity.

¹⁶ When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction and which I will send to destroy you, then I will increase the famine upon you and will destroy your sustenance of bread. ¹⁷ So I will send upon you famine and evil beasts that will destroy thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹³ Because I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall be moved out of her place, in the indignation of the LORD of the hosts and in the day of his fierce anger.

¹⁶ to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and wag his head.

²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return until he has done it and until he has performed the intents of his heart; in the end of the days ye shall understand this.

⁶ Vau For the iniquity of the daughter of my people has increased more than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and companies did not camp upon her. ⁷ Zain Her Nazarites were whiter than snow; they were more radiant than milk; their composure had more fire than the precious stones cut from sapphire: ⁸ Cheth Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered; it is dry like a stick. ⁹ Teth Those slain with the sword are better than those slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the earth. ¹⁰ Jod The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. ¹¹ Caph The LORD has accomplished his fury; he has poured out his fierce anger and has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured the foundations thereof.

¹² And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke over us and over our judges that governed us, by bringing upon us such a great evil: that such has never been done under the whole heaven as has been done upon Jerusalem.

²¹ for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

²² For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. ²³ But woe unto those that are with child and to those that give suck in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.

²⁸ But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For, behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bare and the breasts which never gave suck. ³⁰ Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. ³¹ For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

⁶⁵ Neither shalt thou find rest among these Gentiles, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but there the LORD shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of soul;

²¹ They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I also will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with foolish Gentiles. ²² For fire shall be kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest part of Sheol and shall consume the earth with her fruit and burn up the foundations of the mountains. ²³ I will heap evils upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them. ²⁴ They shall be consumed with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. ²⁵ The sword without and terror within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

⁸ For a net shall be cast at his feet, and he shall walk upon a network.

⁶ know now that God has overthrown me and has compassed me with his net.

³⁰ My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

¹⁰ For my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing: my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

⁴ Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul; let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.

¹¹ Thou didst bring us into the net; thou didst lay affliction upon our loins.

² Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my life; let them be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt. ³ Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.

³ For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as in a hearth. ⁴ My heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. ⁵ By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin.

⁵ ¶ All those that hate Zion shall all be confounded and turned back.

¹⁷ They shall be turned back; they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

¹⁹ ¶ My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war. ²⁰ Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is destroyed; suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment. ²¹ How long shall I see the banner and hear the voice of the shofar? ²² For my people are foolish; the ignorant sons with no understanding have not known me; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. ²³ I beheld the earth, and, behold, it was without order, and empty; and the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴ I beheld the mountains, and, behold, they trembled, and all the hills were destroyed. ²⁵ I beheld, and, behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. ²⁶ I beheld, and, behold, Carmel was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD and by his fierce anger. ²⁷ For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. ²⁸ For this shall the earth be made desolate, and the heavens above be darkened because I spoke; I purposed and did not repent, neither will I turn back from it. ²⁹ The whole city fled from the thunder of the horsemen and bowmen; they went into the thickets of the forests and climbed up upon the rocks; every city was forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

⁶ Therefore my fury and my anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.

²² Tau Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them as thou hast done unto me for all my rebellions; for my sighs are many, and my heart is filled with pain.

³ Gimel He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel; he has caused his right hand to draw back in the presence of the enemy, and he burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about. ⁴ Daleth He has bent his bow like an enemy; he strengthened his right hand as an adversary and slew everything of beauty that could be seen in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he poured out his fury like fire.

¹⁷ Ain As for us, our eyes have failed in seeking our vain help; in our watching we have watched for people that cannot save us. ¹⁸ Tzaddi They hunt our steps that we cannot walk in our streets; our end came near; our days were fulfilled; for our end is come. ¹⁹ Koph Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the heaven; they pursued us upon the mountains; they laid wait for us in the wilderness. ²⁰ Resh The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we had said, Under his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.

¹⁷ ¶ For this our heart is saddened; for these things our eyes are become dim.

¹³ But I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will cause him to be taken to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he shall not see it though he shall die there.

²⁰ And I will spread my net upon him and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass with which he has rebelled against me.

³ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many peoples, and they shall bring thee up in my net.

¹² When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them according to what has been heard in their congregations.

⁶ Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

¹⁶ ¶ When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my seat, that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes up unto the people to destroy them.

⁸ with flaming fire, to take vengeance on those that do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,

²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

⁴⁸ therefore, thou shalt serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in lack of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he has destroyed thee.

²² His own iniquities shall take hold of the wicked, and he shall be imprisoned with the cords of his sins.

²⁵ That I will break the Assyrian in my land and upon my mountains tread him under foot; then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

⁶ I was wroth with my people; I have profaned my inheritance and given them into thine hand; thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient thou hast very heavily laid thy yoke.

⁹ behold, I will send and take all the families of the north wind, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my slave, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

⁸ And it shall come to pass, that the people and the kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that people I will visit, saith the LORD, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have finished placing all of them under his hand.

¹² ¶ I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Submit your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live.

¹⁴ For thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these Gentiles, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him; and I have even given him the beasts of the field.

⁵ and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, said the LORD; if ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?

²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those that seek their soul; and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those that seek their soul and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.

¹⁷ then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

¹ ¶ In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. ² And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. ³ And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon. ⁴ And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them and all the men of war, then they fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls; and the king went out by the way of the desert. ⁵ But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he sentenced him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon. ⁸ And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that had come over to him, with the rest of the people that remained.

⁹ And I will bring you out of the midst thereof and deliver you into the hands of strangers and will execute judgments in you.

³¹ And I will pour out my indignation upon thee; I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath and deliver thee into the hand of fearful men who are skilful to destroy.

²⁸ For thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I deliver thee into the hand of those whom thou hatest, into the hand of those from whom thy soul is alienated:

⁴ behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee and pitch their tents in thee; they shall eat thy plantings, and they shall drink thy milk.

⁷ behold, therefore I will stretch out my hand upon thee and will deliver thee unto the Gentiles as a spoil, and I will cut thee off from among the peoples, and I will destroy thee from among the countries; I will pluck thee out; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

¹⁴ For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and there shall be no one left to escape.

³³ The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a people which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt only be oppressed and crushed all the days.

⁸ who dashed in pieces and crushed the sons of Israel for eighteen years, all the sons of Israel that were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorite, which is in Gilead.

³³ And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses; and he trode her under foot.

¹⁴ And he carried away all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained except the poorest sort of the people of the land. ¹⁵ He likewise carried Jehoiachin away to Babylon and the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officers, and the mighty of the land; he carried them all into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ All the men of might, which were seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths which were one thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

⁴ And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king’s garden, with the Chaldees round about the city; and they went by the way of the plain. ⁵ And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, after all his army had been scattered from him. ⁶ So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah, and they sentenced him. ⁷ And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon.

¹¹⁸ ¶ Thou hast trodden down all those that err from thy statutes; for their deceit is falsehood.

⁵ And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; and break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down:

¹⁸ And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

² Who raised up righteousness from the east, called him that he might follow him, gave the Gentiles before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword and as driven stubble to his bow.

³ I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no one with me; for I have trodden them with my anger and have trampled them with my fury; and their blood sprinkled my garments and stained all my raiment.

¹⁷ ¶ Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.

²¹ Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

¹⁰ For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up each man from his tent and burn this city with fire.

²⁶ Come against her from the ends of the earth, open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

³⁴ Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon; he has filled his belly with my delicates; he has cast me out.

³⁴ Lamed To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

¹³ Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.

¹⁰ Then she that is my enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? my eyes shall behold her: now she shall be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

³ And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, said the LORD of the hosts.

²⁴ And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

²⁹ Of how much greater punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

¹⁹ And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. ²⁰ And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the bits of the horses, for a thousand six hundred furlongs.

¹⁵ And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the Gentiles; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

²⁰ Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I looked for some to take pity, but there was no one, and for comforters, but I found none.

¹³⁶ ¶ Rivers of waters ran down my eyes because they did not keep thy law.

¹⁰ Upon the mountains I will lift up weeping and wailing and lamentation upon the habitations of the wilderness because they are burned up, so that no one can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and even the beasts of the earth are fled; they are gone.

²¹ For death is come up into our windows and is entered into our palaces to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets.

² Beth She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.

⁵ He Her enemies have been made the head; those who hated her have been prospered; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her rebellions; her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. ⁶ Vau And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed; her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

¹⁸ Tsade Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion; let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

²⁰ Resh Look, O LORD, and consider unto whom thou hast shaken thus. Shall the women eat their fruit, the little ones that they are bringing up? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? ²¹ Schin The young and the old lay on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men fell by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed and hast not forgiven. ²² Tau Thou hast called as to a day of solemnity my terrors from everywhere, so that in the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up my enemy has consumed.

⁴⁸ Pe My eyes stream with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹ Ain My eyes run down, and cease not, for there is no relief,

² Beth The sons of Zion, precious and esteemed more than pure gold, how are they taken for earthen vessels, the work of the hands of the potter! ³ Gimel Even the sea monsters draw out the breast; they give suck to their young ones; the daughter of my people is cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness.

¹² Though they bring up their sons, yet I will bereave them, that there shall not be a man left; yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

⁴¹ ¶ And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, ⁴² saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. ⁴³ For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and constrain thee on every side ⁴⁴ and shall cast thee down to the ground and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

¹ ¶ I say the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, ² that I have great sorrow and continual pain in my heart. ³ For I could wish that myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren, those who are my kinsmen according to the flesh,

¹⁹ ¶ And when the woman has an issue of blood and her issue is in her flesh, she shall be put apart seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁰ And everything that she lies upon in her separation shall be unclean; everything also that she sits upon shall be unclean. ²¹ And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself with water and be unclean until the evening. ²² Also whoever touches any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. ²³ And if any thing was on the bed or on any thing upon which she sat, he that touches it shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁴ And if any man sleeps with her and her uncleanness comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and any bed upon which he sleeps shall be unclean. ²⁵ And the woman when she has an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation or if it runs beyond the time of her separation, all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. ²⁶ Every bed upon which she sleeps all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation; and whatever she sits upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. ²⁷ Whoever touches these things shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.

²² ¶ And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and extending his hands toward heaven,

³⁸ every prayer and every supplication made by any man or by all thy people Israel, when anyone knows the plague of his own heart and spreads forth his hands toward this house,

² And the LORD sent against him armies of the Chaldees and armies of the Syrians and armies of the Moabites and armies of the sons of Ammon and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his slaves the prophets. ³ Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did ⁴ and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon.

¹ ¶ And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

¹⁵ And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; likewise, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.

³ The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed each one his portion.

⁶ Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

⁴ Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said: Behold, I turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands with which ye fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you outside the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. ⁵ And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath.

²² Behold, I command, said the LORD and will cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against her and take her and burn her with fire; and I will give the cities of Judah unto desolation until they are without an inhabitant.

¹⁶ Ain For these things I weep; my eyes, my eyes stream with water because the comforter that gives rest unto my soul has left me; my sons are desolate because the enemy prevailed.

¹ ¶ Aleph How has the Lord darkened the daughter of Zion in his anger! He has cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel and not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger! ² Beth The Lord has destroyed and has not forgiven; he has destroyed in his wrath all the habitations of Jacob; he has thrown down to the ground the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he has polluted the kingdom and its princes. ³ Gimel He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel; he has caused his right hand to draw back in the presence of the enemy, and he burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about. ⁴ Daleth He has bent his bow like an enemy; he strengthened his right hand as an adversary and slew everything of beauty that could be seen in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he poured out his fury like fire. ⁵ He The Lord was as an enemy, he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all her palaces; he has dissipated his strong holds and has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. ⁶ Vau And he has violently taken away his tabernacle as if it were of a garden; he has destroyed his congregation; the LORD has caused the solemnities and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and has rejected in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. ⁷ Zain The Lord has cast off his altar; he has abhorred his sanctuary; he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have shouted in the house of the LORD as in the day of a feast. ⁸ Cheth The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; he has stretched out the line; he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they were destroyed together.

¹⁷ Ain The LORD has done that which he had determined; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded from the time of old; he has destroyed and has not forgiven; and he has caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee; he has raised up the horn of thine adversaries. ¹⁸ Tsade Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion; let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. ¹⁹ Koph Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches; pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

¹⁵ Samech They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not because they were contaminated; and when they were thrust through, they said among the Gentiles, They shall never dwell here again.

²³ ¶ Make a chain, for the land is full of bloody judgments, and the city is full of violence. ²⁴ Therefore I will bring the worst of all the Gentiles, and they shall possess their houses; I will also cause the arrogance of the strong to cease; and their sanctuaries shall be defiled.

¹⁷ Son of man, the house of Israel which dwells in their land has defiled it with their own ways and with their works; their way was before me as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman.

⁸ ¶ Israel shall be swallowed up; soon they shall be among the Gentiles as a vessel in which there is no pleasure.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have sinned this time; the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.

³² Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long; and there shall be no strength in thine hand. ³³ The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a people which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt only be oppressed and crushed all the days. ³⁴ So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. ³⁵ The LORD shall smite thee in the knees and in the legs with an evil boil that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. ³⁶ The LORD shall bring thee and thy king which thou shalt set over thee unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there shalt thou serve other gods, even wood and stone. ³⁷ And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD shall carry thee away. ³⁸ Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field and shalt gather but little in, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰ Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall fall. ⁴¹ Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

⁴ The strong One, whose work is perfect: for all his ways are right; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

⁷ And Adonibezek said, Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered crumbs under my table; as I have done, so God has recompensed me. And they put him into Jerusalem, and there he died.

¹⁴ If ye will fear the LORD and serve him and hear his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigns over you continue following the LORD your God. ¹⁵ But if ye will not hear the voice of the LORD but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD shall be against you as it was against your fathers.

²³ For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and to break the word of the Lord is iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected thee from being king.

⁸ and at this house, which was high, any one that passes by it shall be astonished and shall hiss, and they shall say, Why has the LORD done thus unto this land and to this house? ⁹ And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt and have taken hold upon other gods and have worshipped them and served them; for this the LORD has brought upon them all this evil.

²¹ and he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus hath the LORD said, Forasmuch as thou hast rebelled against the mouth of the LORD and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

¹³ And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guiltiness, seeing that thou our God hast intervened that we no longer be oppressed because of our iniquities and hast given us such an escape as this,

⁶ let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou may hear the prayer of thy slave, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the sons of Israel, thy slaves, and I confess the sins of the sons of Israel, with which we have sinned against thee; both I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷ We have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments, which thou didst command thy slave Moses. ⁸ Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou didst command thy slave Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples;

²⁶ Nevertheless, they were contentious and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their backs and slew thy prophets who testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great abominations.

³³ Howbeit thou art just in all that has come upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly;

¹¹ because they rebelled against the words of God and condemned the counsel of the most High:

⁷⁵ ¶ I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

¹⁷ Tzaddi The LORD is righteous in all his ways and merciful in all his works.

¹ ¶ Righteous art thou, O LORD, even though I dispute with thee: even so, I will speak judgments with thee; Why does the way of the wicked prosper? All those that completely rebel against thee have peace.

⁸ And many Gentiles shall pass by this city, and each man shall say to his neighbour, Why has the LORD done thus unto this great city? ⁹ Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshipped other gods and served them.

²⁸ And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from thine hand to drink, then thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Ye must certainly drink. ²⁹ For, Behold, I begin to bring evil upon the city which is called by my name, and should ye only be absolved? Ye shall not be absolved, for I bring the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, said the LORD of the hosts.

¹² For thus hath the LORD said: Behold, those who were not condemned to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and shalt thou be absolved of everything? Thou shalt not be absolved, but thou shalt surely drink of it.

¹² ¶ Lamed Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is come unto me because the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

⁴² ¶ Nun We have rebelled and been disloyal; therefore thou hast not forgiven.

²² Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant in her, of whom shall be taken captive your sons and daughters; they shall be taken away: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon her. ²³ And they shall comfort you when ye see their ways and their doings and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in her, said the Lord GOD.

⁷ O Lord, the righteousness belongs unto thee, but unto us the confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near and that are far off through all the lands where thou hast driven them because of their rebellion with which they have rebelled against thee.

⁵ The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: each morning he shall bring his judgment to light; he never fails; but the unjust know no shame.

⁵ But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

¹⁹ ¶ Now we know that all that the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may submit themselves unto God.

³ And they sing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. ⁴ Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and magnify thy name? for thou only art holy; therefore, all the Gentiles shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

⁵ And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, who art and wast the Holy one because thou hast judged these things; ⁶ for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they deserve it. ⁷ And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

¹³ He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are verily estranged from me. ¹⁴ My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. ¹⁵ Those that dwell in my house and my maids have counted me for a stranger; I was an alien in their sight. ¹⁶ I called my slave, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth. ¹⁷ My spirit came to be strange to my wife, although I intreated her for the sons of my own body. ¹⁸ Even the young children despised me; as I arose, they spoke against me. ¹⁹ All my intimate friends abhorred me; and those whom I loved are turned against me.

²⁸ But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble, for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah.

¹⁵ Therefore thus hath the LORD said concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name which I did not send and that say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. ¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have no one to bury them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness upon them. ¹⁷ ¶ Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. ¹⁸ If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold those that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest walked around in circles in the land, and they did not know it.

¹¹ For both prophet and priest are feigned; even in my house I have found their wickedness, said the LORD. ¹² Therefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. ¹³ And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. ¹⁴ I have also seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they committed adultery and walked by lies; they strengthened also the hands of evildoers, that no none is converted from his malice; they are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. ¹⁵ Therefore, thus hath the LORD of the hosts said against those prophets: Behold, I will cause them to eat wormwood and make them drink the waters of gall, for from the prophets of Jerusalem is hypocrisy gone forth upon all the land.

¹³ Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken unto the people that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ Therefore do not hearken unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. ¹⁵ For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.

⁷ Thus hath the LORD, the God of Israel said; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which had come forth to help you, has returned to Egypt into their own land. ⁸ And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city and take it and burn it with fire. ⁹ Thus hath the LORD said; Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans have surely departed from us; for they shall not depart.

⁷ Zain Her Nazarites were whiter than snow; they were more radiant than milk; their composure had more fire than the precious stones cut from sapphire: ⁸ Cheth Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered; it is dry like a stick. ⁹ Teth Those slain with the sword are better than those slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the earth.

¹² Princes were hanged up by their hand; the countenance of the elders was not honoured.

⁴⁰ ¶ And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers for their trespass which they trespassed against me and that also they have walked contrary unto me, ⁴¹ and that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; and then their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled, and they shall plead because of their iniquity; ⁴² and I will remember my covenant with Jacob and likewise my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land.

²⁵ The sword without and terror within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

⁴⁷ and they return unto their heart in the land where they were carried captives and return and make supplication unto thee in the land of those that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned and have done iniquity, we have committed wickedness; ⁴⁸ and so convert themselves unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou didst give unto their fathers, toward the city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name, ⁴⁹ thou shalt hear in the heavens, in the habitation of thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication and do what is right unto them ⁵⁰ and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee and all their rebellions by which they have rebelled against thee and cause those who carried them captive to have mercy on them,

²⁷ My bowels boil and do not rest; the days of affliction came upon me.

²⁷ He looks upon men, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it did not profit me;

³ For I acknowledge my rebellion; and my sin is ever before me. ⁴ Against thee, against thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou be declared just in thy word and pure in thy judgment.

¹³ ¶ He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall attain mercy.

¹¹ Therefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab and my inward parts for Kirharesh.

¹⁴ Like a crane or a swallow, so did I complain; I mourned as a dove; I raised my eyes upward, O LORD, I am suffering violence; comfort me.

³⁵ Yet thou didst say, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee because thou hast said, I did not sin.

¹³ Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast rebelled against the LORD thy God and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not heard my voice, said the LORD.

¹⁹ ¶ My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war.

²¹ For death is come up into our windows and is entered into our palaces to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets. ²² Speak, Thus hath the LORD said, Even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field and as the handful after the harvestman, and there shall be none to gather them.

¹⁸ If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold those that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest walked around in circles in the land, and they did not know it.

²⁰ Peradventure is Ephraim a precious son unto me? Peradventure is he unto me a delightful child? With all this since I spoke of him, I have remembered him constantly. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; in tenderness I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

³⁶ Therefore my heart shall sound like flutes for Moab, and my heart shall sound like flutes for the men of Kirheres because the riches that he has gotten are perished.

¹⁵ The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within; he that is in the field shall die with the sword, and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

⁸ ¶ How must I leave thee, Ephraim? how shall I give thee up, Israel? how could I make thee as Admah? nor set thee as Zeboim? my heart churns within me; all my compassion is inflamed.

¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee ¹⁹ and am no longer worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.

¹³ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, reconcile me, a sinner. ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for anyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.

⁴¹ if I whet the resplendence of my sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and will recompense those that hate me. ⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh, in the blood of the slain and of the captives of the heads, in revenge as an enemy. ⁴³ Rejoice, O ye Gentiles, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his slaves and will render vengeance to his enemies and will reconcile his land, to his people.

¹⁵ But in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered themselves together; yea, the smiters gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they tore me apart and did not cease:

¹³ The Lord shall laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming.

¹⁶ For I said, Let them not rejoice over me; let them not magnify themselves against me when my foot slips.

⁷ ¶ Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof. ⁸ O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewards thee as thou hast served us. ⁹ Happy shall he be, that takes and dashes thy offspring against the stones.

¹ ¶ The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. ² Lift ye up a banner as an example upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, raise the hand, that they may enter in by gates of princes. ³ I have commanded my sanctified ones; I have also called my mighty ones for my anger that they might rejoice with my glory. ⁴ The noise of a multitude in the mountains like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of kingdoms, of Gentiles gathered together: the LORD of the hosts orders the host of the battle. ⁵ They come from a far land, from the end of the heavens, even the LORD, and the instruments of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth. ⁶ ¶ Howl; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. ⁷ Therefore all hands shall be faint, and every heart of man shall melt: ⁸ And they shall be filled with terror; anguish and pain shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travails: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. ⁹ Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel and with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ¹⁰ For this reason the stars of the heavens and the lights thereof shall not shine: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not give forth her light. ¹¹ And I will visit evil upon the world and iniquity upon the wicked, and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the strong. ¹² I will make the noble man more precious than fine gold and man more than the gold of Ophir. ¹³ Because I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall be moved out of her place, in the indignation of the LORD of the hosts and in the day of his fierce anger. ¹⁴ And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep without a shepherd: they shall each man look unto his own people, and flee each one unto his own land.

²² Thus has thy Lord said, I AM thy God who pleads the cause of his people; Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: ²³ But I will put it into the hand of those that afflict thee, which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to those that went over.

¹⁷ Then took I the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the Gentiles to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me, ¹⁸ unto Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah and to its kings and to its princes, that I might place them into desolation, into astonishment, and into hissing, and into a curse, as this day, ¹⁹ unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his slaves and to his princes and to all his people, ²⁰ and to all the mingled people and to all the kings of the land of Uz and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines and to Ashkelon and to Gaza and to Ekron and to the remnant of Ashdod, ²¹ to Edom and to Moab and to the sons of Ammon, ²² and to all the kings of Tyre and to all the kings of Zidon and to all the kings of the isles which are of that side of the sea, ²³ and to Dedan, and to Tema and to Buz and to all that are in the utmost corners, ²⁴ and to all the kings of Arabia and to all the kings of the mingled peoples, the Arabia that dwells in the desert, ²⁵ and to all the kings of Zimri and to all the kings of Elam and to all the kings of the Medes, ²⁶ and to all the kings of the north wind, those of far and those of near, one with another and to all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face of the earth and the king of Sheshach {Babylon} shall drink after them. ²⁷ Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said; Drink and be drunken, and vomit and fall, and ye shall not rise in the presence of the sword which I send among you.

¹⁶ Therefore all those that devour thee shall be devoured; and all those that afflict thee, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and those that trampled upon thee shall be trodden down, and all that prey upon thee I will give for a prey.

¹ ¶ The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles. ² To Egypt: against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. ³ Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. ⁴ Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. ⁵ Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down and are fled in haste, and do not look back: for fear was round about, said the LORD. ⁶ Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they stumbled and fell toward the north by the river Euphrates. ⁷ Who is this that comes up as a flood, whose waters move as rivers? ⁸ Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters move like rivers; and he said, I will go up and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and its inhabitants. ⁹ Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. ¹⁰ But this day shall be unto the Lord GOD of the hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; for it shall be a slaughter unto the Lord GOD of the hosts in the north country by the river Euphrates. ¹¹ Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for there is no cure for thee. ¹² ¶ The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry has filled the land; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they are both fallen together. ¹³ The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. ¹⁴ Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee. ¹⁵ Why is thy fortress swept away? It could not stand because the LORD pushed it over. ¹⁶ He multiplied the fallen; yea, one fell upon another; and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our nativity, away from the overcoming sword. ¹⁷ They cried there: Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he allowed the appointed time to pass by. ¹⁸ As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of the hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. ¹⁹ O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall be a pasture and shall be made desolate without an inhabitant. ²⁰ Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north. ²¹ Also her soldiers are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also turned back, and all fled away without stopping: because the day of their calamity was come upon them and the time of their visitation. ²² Her voice shall go forth like a serpent; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes as hewers of wood. ²³ They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, for they cannot be counted because they are more than the locusts; they are innumerable. ²⁴ The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. ²⁵ The LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel, said: Behold, I will visit the multitude of Alexandria, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all those that trust in him. ²⁶ And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their soul and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his slaves; and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD. ²⁷ But fear not thou, O my slave Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and be in rest and be prospered, and no one shall make him afraid. ²⁸ Fear thou not, O Jacob my slave, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the Gentiles where I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will chastise thee with judgment; and I will not completely cut thee off.

²⁷ For was not Israel a derision unto thee, as if he were found among thieves? for since thou hast spoken of him, thou hast slipped.

¹¹ Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced destroying my heritage, because ye filled yourselves as a heifer on grass and neighed like horses;

¹⁵ Shout against her round about; she has given her hand; her foundations are fallen; her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD; take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do unto her.

³¹ Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, said the Lord GOD of the hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

²⁴ And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, said the LORD.

⁴⁹ As Babylon has caused the dead of Israel to fall, so because of Babylon the dead of all the earth fell.

⁴ Daleth The streets of Zion mourn because there are none to come to the solemnities; all her gates are destroyed; her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

⁸ Cheth Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she is removed; all that honoured her despise her because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she sighs and is turned backward.

¹⁵ Samech All that passed by clapped their hands over thee and whistled and wagged their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

²¹ ¶ Schin Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup shall also pass even unto thee; thou shalt be drunken and shalt vomit. ²² Tau The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will never cause thee to be carried away again; he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover thy sins.

¹ ¶ The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, ² Son of man, set thy face against the sons of Ammon and prophesy against them ³ and say unto the sons of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord GOD, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because thou didst say, Aha, it is well! upon my sanctuary, which was profaned; and upon the land of Israel, which it was made desolate; and upon the house of Judah, because they went into captivity; ⁴ behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee and pitch their tents in thee; they shall eat thy plantings, and they shall drink thy milk. ⁵ And I will make Rabbah a habitation for camels and the sons of Ammon a resting place for sheep: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. ⁶ For thus hath the Lord GOD said; Because thou hast clapped thine hands and stamped with the feet and rejoiced in thy soul with all thy despite upon the land of Israel, ⁷ behold, therefore I will stretch out my hand upon thee and will deliver thee unto the Gentiles as a spoil, and I will cut thee off from among the peoples, and I will destroy thee from among the countries; I will pluck thee out; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. ⁸ ¶ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because Moab and Seir said, Behold, the house of the LORD is like unto all the Gentiles submitted to Babylon, ⁹ therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the desirable lands of Bethjeshimoth and Baalmeon and Kiriathaim, ¹⁰ unto the sons of the east against the sons of Ammon and will give them in possession that the sons of Ammon may not be remembered any more among the Gentiles. ¹¹ I will also execute judgments in Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD. ¹² Thus hath the Lord GOD spoken; Because of what Edom did when he took vengeance against the house of Judah, (for they are condemned as guilty) and revenged themselves upon them; ¹³ therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: I will also stretch out my hand upon Edom and will cut off man and beast from her; and I will make her desolate from Teman; and those of Dedan shall fall by the sword. ¹⁴ And I will place my vengeance in Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, said the Lord GOD. ¹⁵ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because the Palestinians have dealt by revenge and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart to destroying because of perpetual enmity, ¹⁶ therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said; Behold, I stretch out my hand upon the Palestinians, and I will cut off the Cherethims and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. ¹⁷ And I will execute great vengeance in them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD when I shall give my vengeance in them.

² Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, Aha, it is well that she is broken who is the gate of the peoples; she is turned unto me; I shall be filled; and she shall be deserted:

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

¹ ¶ The words of Amos, who was among the pastors of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ² And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the pastors shall be destroyed, and the top of Carmel shall wither. ³ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said: For three transgressions of Damascus and for the fourth, I will not convert her because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. ⁴ But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. ⁵ I will also break the bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitants of the plain of Aven and him that holds the sceptre from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir. ⁶ Thus hath the LORD said: For three transgressions of Gaza and for the fourth, I will not convert her because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: ⁷ but I will send a fire in the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof. ⁸ And I will cut off the inhabitants of Ashdod and him that holds the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Palestinians shall perish, said the Lord GOD. ⁹ Thus hath the LORD said: For three transgressions of Tyre and for the fourth, I will not convert her because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom and did not remember the brotherly covenant; ¹⁰ but I will send fire in the wall of Tyre, which shall devour its palaces. ¹¹ Thus hath the LORD said: For three transgressions of Edom and for the fourth, I will not convert her because she pursued her brother with the sword and cast off all mercy, and with her anger she stole from him perpetually, and she kept her wrath for ever: ¹² but I will send fire in Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. ¹³ Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon and for the fourth, I will not convert her because they have ripped off the mountains of Gilead that they might enlarge their border: ¹⁴ but I will kindle fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof as with shouting in the day of battle, as with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; ¹⁵ and their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, said the LORD.

¹² But thou should not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither should thou have rejoiced over the sons of Judah in the day they were lost; neither should thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. ¹³ Thou should not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; thou should not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

¹⁵ ¶ Woe unto him that gives his neighbours drink, that puts thy bottle to them, and makes them drunken also, that thou may look on their nakedness! ¹⁶ Thou hast filled thyself with dishonour instead of honour; drink thou also, and thy foreskin shall be uncovered; the cup of the LORD’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful vomit shall fall upon thy glory. ¹⁷ For the violence of Lebanon shall fall upon thee and the destruction of the wild beasts shall break thee, because of the human blood, and of the robbery of the land, of the cities, and of all that dwell therein.

⁶ Reward her even as she rewarded you and pay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has given thee to drink, give her double.

⁴ Hear, O our God; for we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of their captivity. ⁵ And do not cover their iniquity, nor let their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have become angry against the builders.

¹⁴ Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. ¹⁵ Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

⁷ Therefore all hands shall be faint, and every heart of man shall melt:

¹⁸ Because of my strong sorrow, my heart is faint in me.

²⁵ Pour out thy fury upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the nations that do not call on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have destroyed his habitation.

²³ Yet, LORD, thou dost know all their counsel against me to slay me; do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

³⁵ The violence against me and my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

¹³ Mem From upon high he has sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; he has spread a net for my feet; he has turned me back; he has made me desolate and always with pain.

³¹ For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

¹³ Therefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on those that dwell in the earth?