Jeremiah 51 - Lamentations 4

Jubilee Bible 2000

51 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said; Behold, I raise up against Babylon and against her inhabitants that rise up against me from the heart, a destroying wind.

² And I will send unto Babylon fanners that shall fan her and shall empty her land; for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

³ I shall say to the archer that bends his bow and unto him that lifts himself up in his brigandine, Spare ye not her young men; utterly destroy all her host.

⁴ Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans and those that are thrust through in her streets.

⁵ For Israel and Judah have not been made widows of their God, of the LORD of the hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

⁶ Flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver each one his soul that ye not perish because of her iniquity, for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.

⁷ Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand that made all the earth drunken: the Gentiles have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

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

⁹ We applied the medicine to Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go each one into his own land; for her judgment is come unto heaven and is lifted up even to the clouds.

¹⁰ The LORD has brought our righteousness to light; come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

¹¹ Make bright the arrows; gather the shields; the LORD has awakened the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for his thought is against Babylon to destroy her; for it is vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

¹² Set up the banner upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for the LORD has deliberated and shall put into effect that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹³ O thou that dwellest among many waters, rich in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.

¹⁴ The LORD of the hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men as with locusts; and they shall sing the song of the winepress against thee.

¹⁵ He is the one who makes the earth by his power; he upholds the world by his wisdom and extends the heavens by his intelligence;

¹⁶ he who gives with his voice a multitude of waters from heaven, then he causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with the rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.

¹⁷ Every man has become carnal and is without knowledge; let every founder be ashamed of the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸ They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁹ The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the Former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance; the LORD of the hosts is his name.

²⁰ Thou art my hammer, O weapons of war: for with thee I will break in pieces the Gentiles, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms;

²¹ and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariots and their riders;

²² with thee also I will break in pieces men and women; and with thee I will break in pieces old and young; and with thee I will break in pieces young men and virgins;

²³ I will also break in pieces with thee 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 dukes and princes.

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.

²⁵ Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, said the LORD, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks and will make thee a burnt mountain.

²⁶ And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, said the LORD.

²⁷ Set ye up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the Gentiles, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as raised up locusts.

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

²⁹ And the land shall tremble and sorrow for every thought of the LORD is confirmed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

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 dwelling places; 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.

³³ For thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor; it is now time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

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.

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.

³⁶ Therefore thus hath the LORD said: Behold, I judge thy cause and shall take thy vengeance; and I will dry up her sea and make her flowing waters dry.

³⁷ And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.

³⁸ They shall roar together like lions; they shall roar as lions’ whelps.

³⁹ In their heat I will place their feasts before them, and I will make them drunken that they may rejoice and sleep an eternal sleep and not wake, said the LORD.

⁴⁰ I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.

⁴¹ How is Sheshach a prey! and how is she who was the praise of the whole earth taken! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the Gentiles!

⁴² The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

⁴³ Her cities were devastated, the land dry and desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither shall any son of man pass thereby.

⁴⁴ And I will visit Bel himself in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the Gentiles shall not flow together any more unto him; and the wall of Babylon shall fall.

⁴⁵ Come out of the midst of her, my people, and save each one his life from the fierce anger of the LORD.

⁴⁶ And lest your heart faint, and ye fear because of the news that shall be heard in the land; in one year shall the news come, and after that in the next year shall come the rumour, and then shall come the violence in the land, and the ruler over him who rules.

⁴⁷ Therefore, behold, the days come that I will visit the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be ashamed, and all her dead shall fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸ Then the heavens and the earth and all that is therein shall sing praises over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, 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.

⁵⁰ Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, do not tarry: remember the LORD for many days, and remember Jerusalem.

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.

⁵² Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will visit her graven images; and through all her land the wounded unto death shall groan.

⁵³ Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strength upon high, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, said the LORD.

⁵⁴ The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

⁵⁵ Because the LORD destroys Babylon and takes out of her the many thunders, her waves shall roar; like many waters shall be the sound of their voice:

⁵⁶ because the destroyer is come against her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bow is broken: for the LORD God of recompenses shall surely requite.

⁵⁷ And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep an eternal sleep and shall not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of the hosts.

⁵⁸ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly cast down, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and peoples and nations shall labour in vain in the fire to save her, and they shall become weary.

⁵⁹ ¶ The word which Jeremiah the prophet sent to Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was the chief steward of the bedchambers.

⁶⁰ So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.

⁶¹ And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon and shalt see and shalt read all these things;

⁶² then thou shalt say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that no one shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

⁶³ And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates;

⁶⁴ and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be overcome. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

52 ¶ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

² And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

³ For because of the anger of the LORD against Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out of his presence, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴ Therefore it came to pass after nine years of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem and pitched camp against it and built forts against it round about.

⁵ So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

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.

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.

⁹ So they took the king and caused him to come up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath where he pronounced the sentence upon him.

¹⁰ And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

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.

¹² ¶ And in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem

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:

¹⁴ And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, destroyed all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

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.

¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.

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.

²¹ And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

²² And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.

²³ And there were ninety-six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were one hundred round about.

²⁴ ¶ And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door.

²⁵ He also took out of the city a eunuch, who had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of those that were near the king’s person, who were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land for war; and sixty men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

²⁶ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

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.

³¹ ¶ And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of prison

³² and spoke kindly unto him and set his seat above the seat of the kings that were with him in Babylon

³³ and changed his prison garments: and he continually ate bread before him all the days of his life.

³⁴ And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every thing in its day for all the days of his life, until the day of his death.

Aleph

1 ¶ 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.

Beth

² 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.

Gimel

³ 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.

Daleth

⁴ 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.

He

⁵ 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.

Vau

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.

Zain

⁷ 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.

Cheth

⁸ 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.

Teth

⁹ 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.

Jod

¹⁰ 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.

Caph

¹¹ 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.

Lamed

¹² ¶ 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.

Mem

¹³ 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.

Nun

¹⁴ 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.

Samech

¹⁵ 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.

Ain

¹⁶ 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.

Pe

¹⁷ 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.

Tzaddi

¹⁸ 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.

Koph

¹⁹ 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.

Resh

²⁰ 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.

Schin

²¹ 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.

Tau

²² 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.

Aleph

2 ¶ 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!

Beth

² 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.

Gimel

³ 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.

Daleth

⁴ 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.

He

⁵ 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.

Vau

⁶ 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.

Zain

⁷ 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.

Cheth

⁸ 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.

Teth

⁹ 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.

Jod

¹⁰ ¶ 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.

Caph

¹¹ 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.

Lamed

¹² 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.

Mem

¹³ 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?

Nun

¹⁴ Thy prophets have preached vanity and foolishness unto thee; and they have not uncovered thine iniquity to turn away thy captivity but have preached unto thee vain prophecies and digressions.

Samech

¹⁵ 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?

Pe

¹⁶ 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.

Ain

¹⁷ 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.

Koph

¹⁹ 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.

Resh

²⁰ 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?

Schin

²¹ 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.

Tau

²² 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.

Aleph

3 ¶ I am a man that sees affliction in the rod of his wrath.

Aleph

² He has led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

Aleph

³ Surely he is turned against me; he turns his hand against me all the day.

Beth

⁴ My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones.

Beth

⁵ He has built against me and compassed me with gall and travail.

Beth

⁶ He has set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.

Gimel

⁷ He has hedged me about that I cannot get out; he has made my chain heavy.

Gimel

⁸ Even when I cried and shouted, he shut out my prayer.

Gimel

⁹ He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; he has made my paths crooked.

Daleth

¹⁰ He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places.

Daleth

¹¹ He has made my ways crooked and pulled me in pieces; he has made me desolate.

Daleth

¹² He has bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.

He

¹³ He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.

He

¹⁴ I was a derision to all my people and their song every day.

He

¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunk with wormwood.

Vau

¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes.

Vau

¹⁷ My soul removed itself far from peace; I forgot about good.

Vau

¹⁸ And I said, My strength and my hope of the LORD is perished.

Zain

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

Zain

²⁰ My soul shall have them still in remembrance because it is humbled in me.

Zain

²¹ ¶ This shall go down into my heart; therefore I shall wait.

Cheth

²² It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed because his mercies never diminish.

Cheth

²³ They are new every morning; great is thy faith.

Cheth

²⁴ The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore I will wait for him.

Teth

²⁵ The LORD is good unto those that wait in him, to the soul that seeks him.

Teth

²⁶ It is good to wait quietly in the salvation of the LORD.

Teth

²⁷ It is good for the man if he bears the yoke from his youth.

Jod

²⁸ He shall sit alone and keep silence because he has borne it upon him.

Jod

²⁹ He shall put his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

Jod

³⁰ He shall turn his cheek unto him that smites him; he shall be filled with reproach.

Caph

³¹ For the Lord will not cast off for ever:

Caph

³² But though he causes grief, yet he will also have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

Caph

³³ For he does not afflict nor grieve the sons of men from his heart.

Lamed

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

Lamed

³⁵ To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

Lamed

³⁶ To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.

³⁷ ¶ Mem Who shall he be that saith that something comes which the Lord has not sent?

Mem

³⁸ Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?

Mem

³⁹ Why does the living man have pain, the man in his sins?

Nun

⁴⁰ Let us search out our ways, and seek, and turn again to the LORD.

Nun

⁴¹ Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

Nun

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

Samech

⁴³ Thou hast unfurled anger and persecuted us; thou hast slain, thou hast not forgiven.

Samech

⁴⁴ Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud that our prayer should not pass through.

Samech

⁴⁵ Thou hast made us as the offscouring and abomination in the midst of the peoples.

Pe

⁴⁶ All our enemies have opened their mouths upon us.

Pe

⁴⁷ Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

Pe

⁴⁸ My eyes stream with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Ain

⁴⁹ My eyes run down, and cease not, for there is no relief,

Ain

⁵⁰ Until the LORD looks down, and beholds from the heavens.

Ain

⁵¹ My eyes make my soul sad because of all the daughters of my city.

Tzaddi

⁵² My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause.

Tzaddi

⁵³ They bound up my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.

Tzaddi

⁵⁴ Waters flowed over my head; then I said, I am dead.

Koph

⁵⁵ ¶ I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.

Koph

⁵⁶ Thou hast heard my voice; do not hide thine ear at my cry that I might breath.

Koph

⁵⁷ Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou didst say, Fear not.

Resh

⁵⁸ O Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

Resh

⁵⁹ O LORD, thou hast seen where I was wrong; plead thou my cause.

Resh

⁶⁰ Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.

Schin

⁶¹ Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;

Schin

⁶² The words of those that rose up against me, and their design against me all the day.

Schin

⁶³ Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their music.

Tau

⁶⁴ Render unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

Tau

⁶⁵ Give them sorrow of heart; thy curse unto them.

Tau

⁶⁶ Persecute them in thy anger and cut them off from under the heavens, oh LORD.

Aleph

4 ¶ 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.

Beth

² 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!

Gimel

³ 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.

Daleth

⁴ 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.

He

⁵ Those that did feed delicately are made desolate in the streets; those that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

Vau

⁶ 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.

Zain

⁷ Her Nazarites were whiter than snow; they were more radiant than milk; their composure had more fire than the precious stones cut from sapphire:

Cheth

⁸ 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.

Teth

⁹ 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.

Jod

¹⁰ The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Caph

¹¹ 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.

Lamed

¹² The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world never believed that the adversary and the enemy would enter in through the gates of Jerusalem.

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

Nun

¹⁴ They have wandered blindly in the streets; they were polluted in blood, so that no one could touch their garments.

Samech

¹⁵ 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.

Pe

¹⁶ 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.

Ain

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

Tzaddi

¹⁸ They hunt our steps that we cannot walk in our streets; our end came near; our days were fulfilled; for our end is come.

Koph

¹⁹ Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the heaven; they pursued us upon the mountains; they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

Resh

²⁰ 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.

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.

Tau

²² 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.