Chapter XXV: Part 25

49:25. How have they forsaken the city of renown, the city of joy!

49:26. Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.

49:27. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strong holds of Benadad.

49:28. Against Cedar and against the kingdoms of Asor, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon destroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise, and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the children of the east.

Cedar and Asor. . .Were parts of Arabia; which with Moab, Ammon, Edom, etc., were all brought under the yoke of Nabuchodonosor.

49:29. They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall carry off for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels: and they shall call fear upon them round about.

49:30. Flee ye, get away speedily, sit in deep holes, you that inhabit Asor, saith the Lord: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived designs against you.

49:31. Arise, and go up to a nation that is at ease, and that dwelleth securely, saith the Lord: they have neither gates, nor bars: they dwell alone.

49:32. And their camels shall be for a spoil and the multitude of their cattle for a booty, and I will scatter into every wind them that have their hair cut round, and I will bring destruction upon them from all their confines, saith the Lord.

49:33. And Asor shall be a habitation for dragons, desolate for ever: no man shall abide there, nor son of man inhabit it.

49:34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, saying:

Elam. . .A part of Persia.

49:35. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will break the bow of Elam, and their chief strength.

49:36. And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven: and I will scatter them into all these winds: and there shall be no nation, to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come.

49:37. And I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, and in the sight of them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, my fierce wrath, saith the Lord: and I will send the sword after them, till I consume them.

49:38. And I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy kings and princes from thence, saith the Lord.

49:39. But in the latter days I will cause the captives of Elam, to return, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 50

Babylon, which hath afflicted the Israelites, after their restoration, shall be utterly destroyed.

50:1. The word that the Lord hath spoken against Babylon, and against the land of the Chaldeans in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.

50:2. Declare ye among the nations, and publish it, lift up a standard: proclaim, and conceal it not: say: Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is overthrown, their graven things are confounded, their idols are overthrown.

Bel, etc. . .Bel and Merodach were worshipped for gods by the men of Babylon.

50:3. For a nation is come up against her out of the north, which shall make her land desolate: and there shall be none to dwell therein, from man even to beast: yea they are removed, and gone away.

A nation, etc. . .Viz., the Medes.

50:4. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together: going and weeping they shall make haste, and shall seek the Lord their God.

50:5. They shall ask the way to Sion, their faces are hitherward. They shall come, and shall be joined to the Lord by an everlasting covenant, which shall never be forgotten.

50:6. My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.

50:7. All that found them, have devoured them: and their enemies said: We have not sinned in so doing: because they have sinned against the Lord the beauty of justice, and against the Lord the hope of their fathers.

50:8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans: and be ye as kids at the head of the flock.

50:9. For behold I raise up, and will bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north: and they shall be prepared against her, and from thence she shall be taken: their arrows, like those of a mighty man, a destroyer, shall not return in vain.

50:10. And Chaldea shall be made a prey: all that waste her shall be filled, saith the Lord.

50:11. Because you rejoice, and speak great things, pillaging my inheritance: because you are spread abroad as calves upon the grass, and have bellowed as bulls.

50:12. Your mother is confounded exceedingly, and she that bore you is made even with the dust: behold she shall be the last among the nations, a wilderness unpassable, and dry.

50:13. Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but shall be wholly desolate: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues.

50:14. Prepare yourselves against Babylon round about, all you that bend the bow: fight against her, spare not arrows: because she hath sinned against the Lord.

50:15. Shout against her, she hath every where 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 hath done, so do to her.

50:16. Destroy the sower out of Babylon, and him that holdeth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the sword of the dove every man shall return to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.

The dove. . .Or the destroyer; for the Hebrew word signifies either the one or the other.

50:17. Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria devoured him: and last this Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

50:18. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, as I have visited the king of Assyria.

50:19. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation: and he shall feed on Carmel, and Bason, and his soul shall be satisfied in mount Ephraim, and Galaad.

50:20. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sin of Juda, and there shall none be found: for I will be merciful to them, whom I shall leave.

50:21. Go up against the land of the rulers, and punish the inhabitants thereof, waste, and destroy all behind them, saith the Lord: and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

50:22. A noise of war in the land, and a great destruction.

50:23. How is the hammer of the whole earth broken, and destroyed! how is Babylon turned into a desert among the nations!

50:24. I have caused thee to fall into a snare, and thou art taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware of it: thou art found and caught, because thou hast provoked the Lord.

50:25. The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his wrath: for the Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be done in the land of the Chaldeans.

50:26. Come ye against her from the uttermost borders: open that they may go forth that shall tread her down: take the stones out of the way, and make heaps, and destroy her: and let nothing of her be left.

50:27. Destroy all her valiant men, let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them, for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

50:28. The voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of the land of Babylon: to declare in Sion the revenge of the Lord our God, the revenge of his temple.

50:29. Declare to many against Babylon, to all that bend the bow: stand together against her round about, and let none escape; pay her according to her work: according to all that she hath done, do ye to her: for she hath lifted up herself against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.

50:30. Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets: and all her men of war shall hold their peace in that day, saith the Lord.

50:31. Behold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord the God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation.

50:32. And the proud one shall fall, he shall fall down, and there shall be none to lift him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

50:33. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel, and the children of Juda are oppressed together: all that have taken them captives, hold them fast, they will not let them go.

50:34. Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name: he will defend their cause in judgment, to terrify the land, and to disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

50:35. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

50:36. A sword upon her diviners, and they shall be foolish: a sword upon her valiant ones, and they shall be dismayed.

50:37. A sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the people that are in the midst of her: and they shall become as women: a sword upon her treasures, and they shall be made a spoil.

50:38. A drought upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: because it is a land of idols, and they glory in monstrous things.

50:39. Therefore shall dragons dwell there with the fig fauns: and ostriches shall dwell therein, and it shall be no more inhabited for ever, neither shall it be built up from generation to generation.

Fig fauns. . .Monsters of the desert, or demons in monstrous shapes: such as the ancients called fauns and satyrs; and as they imagined them to live upon wild figs, they called them fauni ficarii or fig fauns.

50:40. As the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and their neighbour cities, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, neither shall the son of man inhabit it.

50:41. Behold a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall rise from the ends of the earth.

50:42. They shall take the bow and the shield: they are cruel and unmerciful: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses: like a man prepared for battle against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

50:43. The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands are grown feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, pangs as a woman in labour.

50:44. Behold he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan to the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run suddenly upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint over her? for who is like to me? and who shall bear up against me? and who is that shepherd that can withstand my countenance?

50:45. Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken against Babylon: and his thoughts which he hath thought against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the little ones of the flocks shall pull them down, of a truth their habitation shall be destroyed with them.

50:46. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard amongst the nations.

Jeremias Chapter 51

The miseries that shall fall upon Babylon from the Medes: the destruction of her idols.

51:1. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants thereof, who have lifted up their heart against me.

51:2. And I will send to Babylon fanners, and they shall fan her, and shall destroy her land: for they are come upon her on every side in the day of her affliction.

51:3. Let not him that bendeth, bend his bow, and let not him go up that is armed with a coat of mail: spare not her young men, destroy all her army.

51:4. And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wounded in the regions thereof.

51:5. For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken by their God the Lord of hosts: but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

51:6. Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let every one save his own life: be not silent upon her iniquity: for it is the time of revenge from the Lord, he will render unto her what she hath deserved.

51:7. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, that made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they have staggered.

51:8. Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed.

51:9. We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed: let us forsake her, and let us go every man to his own land: because her judgment hath reached even to the heavens, and is lifted up to the clouds.

51:10. The Lord hath brought forth our justices: Come, and let us declare in Sion the work of the Lord our God.

51:11. Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers, the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: and his mind is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.

51:12. Upon the walls of Babylon set up the standard, strengthen the watch: set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

51:13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, rich in treasures, thy end is come for thy entire destruction.

51:14. The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying: I will fill thee with men as with locusts, and they shall lift up a joyful shout against thee.

51:15. He that made the earth by his power, that hath prepared the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

51:16. When he uttereth his voice the waters are multiplied in heaven: he lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth, he hath turned lightning into rain: and hath brought forth the wind out of his treasures.

51:17. Every man is become foolish by his knowledge: every founder is confounded by his idol, for what he hath cast is a lie, and there is no breath in them.

51:18. They are vain works, and worthy to be laughed at, in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

51:19. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he that made all things he it is, and Israel is the sceptre of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.

51:20. Thou dashest together for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms:

51:21. And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rider, and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot, and him that getteth up into it:

51:22. And with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child, and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin:

51:23. And with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, and with thee I will break in pieces captains and rulers.

51:24. And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion, before your eyes, saith the Lord.

51:25. Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which corruptest the whole earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

51:26. And they shall not take of thee a stone for the corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord.

51:27. Set ye up a standard in the land: sound with the trumpet among the nations: prepare the nations against her: call together against her the kings of Ararat, Menni, and Ascenez: number Taphsar against her, bring the horse as the stinging locust.

51:28. Prepare the nations against her, the kings of Media, their captains, and all their rulers, and all the land of their dominion.

51:29. And the land shall be in a commotion, and shall be troubled: for the design of the Lord against Babylon shall awake, to make the land of Babylon desert and uninhabitable.

51:30. The valiant men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have dwelt in holds: their strength hath failed, and they are become as women: her dwelling places are burnt, her bars are broken.

51:31. One running post shall meet another, and messenger shall meet messenger: to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from one end to the other:

51:32. And that the fords are taken, and the marshes are burnt with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

51:33. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a thrashingfloor, this is the time of her thrashing: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

51:34. Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath eaten me up, he hath devoured me: he hath made me as an empty vessel: he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicate meats, and he hath cast me out.

51:35. The wrong done to me, and my flesh be upon Babylon, saith the habitation of Sion: and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem.

51:36. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy cause, and will take vengeance for thee, and I will make her sea desolate, I and will dry up her spring.

51:37. And Babylon shall be reduced to heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, because there is no inhabitant.

51:38. They shall roar together like lions, they shall shake their manes like young lions.

51:39. In their heat I will set them drink: and I will make them drunk, that they may slumber, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and awake no more, saith the Lord.

51:40. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams with kids.

51:41. How is Sesach taken, and the renowned one of all the earth surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?

51:42. The sea is come up over Babylon : she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

51:43. Her cities are become an astonishment, a land uninhabited and desolate, a land wherein none can dwell, nor son of man pass through it.

51:44. And I will visit against Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he had swallowed down: and the nations shall no more flow together to him, for the wall also of Babylon shall fall.

51:45. Go out of the midst of her, my people: that every man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord.

51:46. And lest your hearts faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land: and a rumour shall come in one year, and after this year another rumour: and iniquity in the land, and ruler upon ruler.

51:47. Therefore behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

51:48. And the heavens and the earth, and all things that are in them shall give praise for Babylon: for spoilers shall come to her from the north, saith the Lord.

51:49. And as Babylon caused that there should fall slain in Israel: so of Babylon there shall fall slain in all the earth.

51:50. You that have escaped the sword, come away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

51:51. We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: because strangers are come upon the sanctuaries of the house of the Lord.

51:52. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit her graven things, and in all her land the wounded shall groan:

51:53. If Babylon should mount up to heaven, and establish her strength on high: from me there should come spoilers upon her, saith the Lord.

51:54. The noise of a cry from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

51:55. Because the Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of her the great voice: and their wave shall roar like many waters: their voice hath made a noise:

51:56. Because the spoiler is come upon her, that is, upon Babylon, and her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord, who is a strong revenger, will surely repay.

51:57. And I will make her princes drunk, and her wise men, and her captains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: and they shall sleep an everlasting sleep, and shall awake no more, saith the king whose name is Lord of hosts.

51:58. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labours of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish.

51:59. The word that Jeremias the prophet commanded Saraias the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, when he went with king Sedecias to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign: now Saraias was chief over the prophecy.

51:60. And Jeremias wrote in one book all the evil that was to come upon Babylon: all these words that are written against Babylon.

51:61. And Jeremias said to Saraias: When thou shalt come into Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words,

51:62. Thou shalt say: O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to destroy it: so that there should be neither man nor beast to dwell therein, and that it should be desolate for ever.

51:63. And when thou shalt have made an end of reading this book, thou shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it into the midst of the Euphrates:

51:64. And thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed. Thus far are the words of Jeremias.

Jeremias Chapter 52

A recapitulation of the reign of Sedecias, and the destruction of Jerusalem. The number of the captives.

52:1. Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.

52:2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done.

52:3. For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against Juda, till he cast them out from his presence: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.

52:4. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it, and built forts against it round about.

52:5. And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Sedecias.

52:6. And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine overpowered the city: and there was no food for the people of the land.

52:7. And the city was broken up, and the men of war fled, and went out of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is between the two walls, and leadeth to the king's garden, (the Chaldeans besieging the city round about,) and they went by the way that leadeth to the wilderness.

52:8. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king: and they overtook Sedecias in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his companions were scattered from him.

52:9. And when they had taken the king, they carried him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him.

52:10. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias before his eyes: and he slew all the princes of Juda in Reblatha.

52:11. And he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and he put him in prison till the day of his death.

52:12. And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan the general of the army, who stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem.

52:13. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.

52:14. And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.

52:15. But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the poor people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the city, and of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

52:16. But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some for vinedressers, and for husbandmen.

52:17. The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

52:18. And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen vessels that had been used in the ministry: and

52:19. The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver, in silver:

52:20. And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels.

52:21. And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within.

52:22. And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and the pomegranates.

52:23. And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network.

52:24. And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.

52:25. He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king's person, that were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

52:26. And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.

52:27. And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out of his land.

52:28. This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.

52:29. In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and thirty-two souls from Jerusalem.

52:30. In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan the general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five souls. So all the souls were four thousand six hundred.

52:31. And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda, and brought him forth out of prison.

52:32. And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

52:33. And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him always all the days of his life.

52:34. And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAS

In these JEREMIAS laments in a most pathetical manner the miseries of his people, and the destruction of JERUSALEM and the temple, in Hebrew verses, beginning with different letters according to the order of the Hebrew alphabet.

Lamentations Chapter 1

PREFACE: And it came to pass, after Israel was carried into captivity, and Jerusalem was desolate, that Jeremias the prophet sat weeping, and mourned with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and with a sorrowful mind, sighing and moaning, he said:

And it came to pass, etc. . .This preface was not written by Jeremias, but was added by the seventy interpreters, to give the reader to understand upon what occasion the Lamentations were published.

1:1. Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of provinces made tributary!

1:2. Beth. Weeping, she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear to her: all her friends have despised her, and are become her enemies.

1:3. Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place, because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage; she hath dwelt among the nations, and she hath found no rest; all her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits.

1:4. Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down; her priests sigh; her virgins are in affliction; and she is oppressed with bitterness.

1:5. He. Her adversaries are become her lords; her enemies are enriched; because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of her iniquities; her children are led into captivity, before the face of the oppressor.

1:6. Vau. And from the daughter of Sion, all her beauty is departed; her princes are become like rams that find no pastures; and they are gone away without strength before the face of the pursuer.

1:7. Zain. Jerusalem hath remembered the days of her affliction, and prevarication of all her desirable things which she had from the days of old, when her people fell in the enemy's hand, and there was no helper; the enemies have seen her, and have mocked at her sabbaths.

1:8. Heth. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she become unstable; all that honoured her, have despised her, because they have seen her shame; but she sighed, and turned backward.

1:9. Teth. Her filthiness is on her feet, and she hath not remembered her end; she is wonderfully cast down, not having a comforter: behold, O Lord, my affliction, because the enemy is lifted up.

1:10. Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church.

1:11. Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have given all their precious things for food to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile.

1:12. Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.

1:13. Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long.

1:14. Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a hand, out of which I am not able to rise.

1:15. Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to destroy my chosen men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Juda.

1:16. Ain. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water: because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me: my children are desolate because the enemy hath prevailed.

1:17. Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded against Jacob, his enemies are round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

1:18. Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity.

1:19. Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my priests and my ancients pined away in the city: while they sought their food, to relieve their souls.

1:20. Res. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, my bowels are troubled: my heart is turned within me, for I am full of bitterness: abroad the sword destroyeth and at home there is death alike.

1:21. Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my evil, they have rejoiced that thou hast done it: thou hast brought a day of consolation, and they shall be like unto me.

1:22. Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make vintage of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all my iniquities: for my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful.

Lamentations Chapter 2

2:1. Aleph. How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from heaven to the earth the glorious one of Israel, and hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

2:2. Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his wrath the strong holds of the virgin of Juda, and brought them down to the ground: he hath made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof.

2:3. Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming fire devouring round about.

2:4. Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion, he hath poured out his indignation like fire.

2:5. He. The Lord is become as an enemy: he hath cast down Israel headlong, he hath overthrown all the walls thereof: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath multiplied in the daughter of Juda the afflicted, both men and women.

2:6. Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath thrown down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath.

2:7. Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

He hath cursed his sanctuary. . .That is, he permitted his sanctuary to be destroyed, as if it had not been consecrated, but execrable.

2:8. Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.

2:9. Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.

2:10. Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

2:11. Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.

2:12. Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.

2:13. Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?

2:14. Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.

2:15. Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?

2:16. Phe. All thy enemies have opened their month against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.

2:17. Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath fulfilled his word, which he commanded in the days of old: he hath destroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, and hath set up the horn of thy adversaries.

2:18. Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.

2:19. Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the watches: pour out thy heart like water, before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets.

2:20. Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast thus dealt with: shall women then eat their own fruit, their children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

2:21. Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity.

2:22. Thau. Thou hast called as to a festival, those that should terrify me round about, and there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that escaped and was left: those that I brought up, and nourished, my enemy hath consumed them.

Lamentations Chapter 3

3:1. Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.

3:2. Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.

3:3. Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.

3:4. Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.

3:5. Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall, and labour.

3:6. Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.

3:7. Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.

3:8. Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.

3:9. Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.

3:10. Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.

3:11. Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.

3:12. Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.

3:13. He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.

3:14. He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.

3:15. He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.

3:16. Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.

3:17. Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.

3:18. Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.

3:19. Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood and the gall.

3:20. Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.

3:21. Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.

3:22. Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.

3:23. Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.

3:24. Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.

3:25. Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.

3:26. Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.

3:27. Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.

3:28. Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.

3:29. Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.

3:30. Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.

3:31. Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.

3:32. Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.

3:33. Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.

3:34. Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,

3:35. Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,

3:36. Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.

3:37. Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?

3:38. Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?

3:39. Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?

3:40. Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.

3:41. Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.

3:42. Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.

3:43. Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.

3:44. Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.

3:45. Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.

3:46. Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

3:47. Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.

3:48. Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

3:49. Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:

3:50. Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.

3:51. Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

3:52. Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.

3:53. Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.

3:54. Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.

3:55. Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.

3:56. Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.

3:57. Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.

3:58. Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.

3:59. Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.

3:60. Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.

3:61. Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.

3:62. Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.

3:63. Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.

3:64. Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.

3:65. Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.

3:66. Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.

Lamentations Chapter 4

4:1. Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?

4:2. Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the potter's hands?

4:3. Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert.

4:4. Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them.

4:5. He. They that were fed delicately have died in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung.

4:6. Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took nothing in her.

4:7. Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.

4:8. Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood.

4:9. Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the earth.

4:10. Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

4:11. Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

4:12. Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.

4:13. Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

4:14. Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were defiled with blood: and when they could not help walking in it, they held up their skirts.

4:15. Samech. Depart you that are defiled, they cried out to them: Depart, get ye hence, touch not: for they quarrelled, and being removed, they said among the Gentiles: He will no more dwell among them.

4:16. Phe. The face of the Lord hath divided them, he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, neither had they pity on the ancient.

4:17. Ain. While we were yet standing, our eyes failed, expecting help for us in vain, when we looked attentively towards a nation that was not able to save.

4:18. Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.

4:19. Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

4:20. Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.

Christ, etc. . .This, according to the letter, is spoken of their king, who is called the Christ, that is, the Anointed of the Lord. But it also relates, in the spiritual sense, to Christ our Lord, suffering for our sins.

4:21. Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus: to thee also shall the cup come, thou shalt be made drunk, and naked.

4:22. Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he hath visited thy iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath discovered thy sins.

THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAS THE PROPHET

Lamentations Chapter 5

5:1. Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach.

5:2. Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.

5:3. We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows.

5:4. We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.

5:6. We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given us.

5:6. We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread.

5:7. Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their iniquities.

5:8. Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand.

5:9. We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert.

5:10. Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine.

5:11. They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the cities of Juda.

5:12. The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not respect the persons of the ancients.

5:13. They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under the wood.