1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

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

3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

6 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 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.

8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.

10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.

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

13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.

15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

18 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.

20 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

21 They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.

22 Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

1 How doeth the citie sit solitarie that was full of people? How is she become as a widow? She that was great among the nations, and princesse among the prouinces, how is she become tributarie?

2 Shee weepeth sore in the night, and her teares are on her cheekes: among all her louers she hath none to comfort her, all her friends haue dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

3 Iudah is gone into captiuitie, because of affliction, and because of great seruitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors ouertook her betweene the straits.

4 The wayes of Zion do mourne, because none come to the solemne feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh: her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitternesse.

5 Her aduersaries are the chiefe, her enemies prosper: for the Lord hath afflicted her; for the multitude of her transgressions, her children are gone into captiuitie before the enemie.

6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beautie is departed: her princes are become like Harts that find no pasture, & they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

7 Ierusalem remembred in the dayes of her affliction, and of her miseries, all her pleasant things that she had in the dayes of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemie, and none did helpe her, the aduersaries saw her, and did mocke at her Sabbaths.

8 Ierusalem hath grieuously sinned, therefore she is remoued: all that honoured her, despise her, because they haue seene her nakednesse: yea, shee sigheth and turneth backward.

9 Her filthines is in her skirts, she remembreth not her last end, therfore she came downe wonderfully: shee had no comforter: O Lord, behold my affliction: for þe enemie hath magnified himselfe.

10 The aduersarie hath spread out his hand vpon all her pleasant things: for she hath seene that the heathen entred into her Sanctuarie, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

11 All her people sigh, they seek bread, they haue giuen their pleasant things for meate to relieue the soule: see, O Lord, & consider: for I am become vile.

12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that passe by? Behold and see, if there be any sorow like vnto my sorowe, which is done vnto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his fierce anger.

13 From aboue hath he sent fire into my bones, and it preuaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feete, he hath turned me backe: he hath made me desolate, and faint all the day.

14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come vp vpon my necke: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath deliuered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise vp.

15 The Lord hath troden vnder foot all my mightie men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against mee, to crush my yong men. The Lord hath troden the virgine, the daughter of Iudah, as in a wine presse.

16 For these things I weepe, mine eye, mine eye runneth downe with water, because the comforter that should relieue my soule is farre from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy preuailed.

17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded concerning Iacob, that his aduersaries should bee round about him: Ierusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

18 The Lord is righteous, for I haue rebelled against his commandement: heare, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorow: my virgins and my yong men are gone into captiuitie.

19 I called for my louers, but they deceiued me: my priests and mine elders gaue vp the ghost in the citie, while they sought their meat to relieue their soules

20 Behold, O Lord: for I am in distresse: my bowels are troubled: mine heart is turned within mee, for I haue grieuously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaueth, at home there is as death.

21 They haue heard that I sigh, there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies haue heard of my trouble, they are glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like vnto me.

22 Let all their wickednes come before thee: and doe vnto them, as thou hast done vnto me for all my transgressions: for my sighes are many, and my heart is faint.

I == Ezra 4:20 ; Isa 47:7-8

 

 

II == Job 7:3 ; Ps 6:6 ; Jer 4:30 ; 13:17 ; 30:14 ; Lam 1:9 , 16-17 , 21

 

III == Deut 28:64-65 ; Jer 52:27 ; Lam 2:9

 

 

 

 

 

 

V == Deut 28:43-44 ; Jer 30:14-15 ; 52:28 ; Dan 9:7 , 16

 

 

 

 

 

VII == Lam 1:10

 

 

 

 

 

VIII == 1st Kings 8:46 ; Jer 13:22 , 26 ; Ezek 16:37 ; 23:29 ; Hos 2:10

IX == Deut 32:29 ; Isa 47:7 ; Lam 1:2 , 17 , 21

 

 

X == Deut 23:3 ; Neh 13:1 ; Jer 51:51 ; Lam 1:7

 

 

 

XI == Jer 38:9 ; 52:6 ; Lam 2:12 ; 4:4

 

 

XII == Dan 9:12

 

 

 

XIII == Ezek 12:13 ; 17:20

 

 

 

XIV == Deut 28:48

 

 

 

XV == Isa 63:3 ; Rev 14:19-20 ; 19:15

 

 

XVI == Jer 13:17 ; 14:17 ; Lam 12:9 ; 2:18

 

 

XVII == Jer 4:31 ; Lam 1:2 , 9

 

 

 

XVIII == 1st Sam 12:14-15 ; Neh 9:33 ; Dan 9:7 , 14

 

 

XIX == Lam 1:2 , 11 ; Jer 30:14

 

 

 

XX == Deut 32:25 ; Job 30:27 ; Isa 16:11 ; Jer 4:19 ; 48:36 ; Lam 2:11 ; Ezek 7:15 ; Hos 11:8

XXI == Lam 1:2

 

 

 

XXII == 2nd Sam 1:19 ; 1st Chr 28:2 ; Ps 99:5 ; 109:15 ; 132:7 ; Lam 5:17 ; Matt 11:23

 

1 How lonely she is now, the once crowded city! Widowed is she who was mistress over nations; The princess among the provinces has been made a toiling slave.

2 Bitterly she weeps at night, tears upon her cheeks, With not one to console her of all her dear ones; Her friends have all betrayed her and become her enemies.

3 Judah has fled into exile from oppression and cruel slavery; Yet where she lives among the nations she finds no place to rest: All her persecutors come upon her where she is narrowly confined.

4 The roads to Zion mourn for lack of pilgrims going to her feasts; All her gateways are deserted, her priests groan, Her virgins sigh; she is in bitter grief.

5 Her foes are uppermost, her enemies are at ease; The LORD has punished her for her many sins. Her little ones have gone away, captive before the foe.

6 Gone from daughter Zion is all her glory: Her princes, like rams that find no pasture, Have gone off without strength before their captors.

7 Jerusalem is mindful of the days of her wretched homelessness, When her people fell into enemy hands, and she had no one to help her; When her foes gloated over her, laughed at her ruin.

8 Through the sin of which she is guilty, Jerusalem is defiled; All who esteemed her think her vile now that they see her nakedness; She herself groans and turns away.

9 Her filth is on her skirt; she gave no thought how she would end. Astounding is her downfall, with no one to console her. Look, O LORD, upon her misery, for the enemy has triumphed!

10 The foe stretched out his hand to all her treasures; She has seen those nations enter her sanctuary Whom you forbade to come into your assembly.

11 All her people groan, searching for bread; They give their treasures for food, to retain the breath of life. "Look O LORD, and see how worthless I have become!

12 "Come, all you who pass by the way, look and see Whether there is any suffering like my suffering, which has been dealt me When the LORD afflicted me on the day of his blazing wrath.

13 "From on high he sent fire down into my very frame; He spread a net for my feet, and overthrew me. He left me desolate, in pain all the day.

14 "He has kept watch over my sins; by his hand they have been plaited: They have settled about my neck, he has brought my strength to its knees; The Lord has delivered me into their grip, I am unable to rise.

15 "All the mighty ones in my midst the Lord has cast away; He summoned an army against me to crush my young men; The LORD has trodden in the wine press virgin daughter Judah.

16 "At this I weep, my eyes run with tears: Far from me are all who could console me, any who might revive me; My sons were reduced to silence when the enemy prevailed."

17 Zion stretched out her hands, but there was no one to console her; The LORD gave orders against Jacob for his neighbors to be his foes; Jerusalem has become in their midst a thing unclean.

18 "The LORD is just; I had defied his command. Listen, all you peoples, and behold my suffering: My maidens and my youths have gone into captivity.

19 "I cried out to my lovers, but they failed me. My priests and my elders perished in the city; Where they sought food for themselves, they found it not.

20 "Look, O LORD, upon my distress: all within me is in ferment, My heart recoils within me from my monstrous rebellion. In the streets the sword bereaves, at home death stalks.

21 "Give heed to my groaning; there is no one to console me. All my enemies rejoice at my misfortune: it is you who have wrought it. Bring on the day you have proclaimed, that they may be even as I.

22 "Let all their evil come before you; deal with them As you have dealt with me for all my sins; My groans are many, and I am sick at heart."

In this book of five laments, or funeral dirges, Jeremiah uses poetic style. The first two chapters begin each verse with succeeding letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The next chapter has 66 verses in 22 groups of three verses each, also arranged as an acronym. The fourth and fifth have 22 verses, but in the fifth, the first half of each verse is longer than the second half, making a mournful impression.

v 1-11. Jeremiah has seen the destruction of Jerusalem as it was overrun by the Babylonians. The queen had become a slave, the once proud city was deserted. The city cries out in the night for help, but there is none to help her, because she rejected her source of help, the Lord. Her people had gone into captivity for their wickedness, v 3 & 8. The roads were vacant because no worshipers were going to worship. Gentiles, forbidden in the sanctuary, had overrun it, v 10, and there was famine, v 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 12-22. Jeremiah identifies himself with the straggling few that remain and were trampled as in a wine press. He pleas for mercy with weeping, v 16. But Jerusalem, through him, acknowledges punishment was deserved because of their sins, v 18,19. In great distress, Jeremiah, for Jerusalem, notices that the enemies are glad God had chastened, Israel, so he asks God to judge the enemies for their cruelty.