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Lamentations 1:1-3:36
New American Standard Bible
Lamentations 1:1-3:36
New American Standard Bible
The Sorrows of Zion
1 How (A)lonely sits the city
That once had (B)many people!
She has become like a (C)widow
Who was once (D)great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the [a]provinces
Has become a (E)forced laborer!
2 She (F)weeps bitterly in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She has no one to comfort her
Among all her (G)lovers.
All her friends have (H)dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
3 (I)Judah has gone into exile out of affliction
And [b]harsh servitude;
She lives (J)among the nations,
But she has not found a resting place;
All those who (K)pursued her have overtaken her
In the midst of [c]distress.
4 The roads [d]of Zion are in mourning
Because (L)no one comes to an appointed feast.
All her gates are (M)deserted;
Her priests groan,
Her (N)virgins are worried,
And as for Zion herself, it is (O)bitter for her.
5 Her adversaries have become [e]her masters,
Her enemies are [f]secure;
For the Lord has [g](P)caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her wrongdoings;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives [h]led by the enemy.
6 All of her (Q)splendor
Is gone from the daughter of Zion;
Her leaders have become like deer
That have found no pasture,
And they have [i](R)fled without strength
[j]From the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and homelessness
(S)Jerusalem remembers all her treasures
That were hers since the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And (T)no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They (U)laughed at her [k]ruin.
8 Jerusalem sinned (V)greatly,
Therefore (W)she has become an [l]object of ridicule.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even (X)she herself groans and turns away.
9 Her (Y)uncleanness was in her garment’s seams;
She [m]did not think of her (Z)future.
So she has [n](AA)fallen in an astonishing way;
(AB)She has no comforter.
“(AC)See, Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has [o](AD)honored himself!”
10 The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the (AE)nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they were (AF)not to enter Your congregation.
11 All her people groan, (AG)seeking bread;
They have given their treasures for food
To (AH)restore their [p]lives.
“See, Lord, and look,
For I am (AI)despised.”
12 “Is it (AJ)nothing to all you who pass this way?
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain
Which was inflicted on me,
With which the (AK)Lord tormented me on the day of His (AL)fierce anger.
13 From [q]the height He sent fire into my (AM)bones,
And it dominated them.
He has spread a (AN)net for my feet;
He has turned me back;
He has made me (AO)desolate,
[r]Faint all day long.
14 The (AP)yoke of my wrongdoings is bound;
By His hand they are woven together.
They have (AQ)come upon my neck;
He has made my strength [s]fail.
The Lord (AR)has handed me over
To those against whom I am not able to stand.
15 The (AS)Lord has thrown away all my strong men
In my midst;
He has called an appointed [t]time against me
To crush my (AT)young men;
The Lord has (AU)trodden as in a wine press
The virgin daughter of Judah.
16 For these things I (AV)weep;
[u]My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a (AW)comforter,
One to restore my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion (AX)stretches out with her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has (AY)commanded regarding Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
(AZ)Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (BA)righteous,
For I have (BB)rebelled against His [v]command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And (BC)see my pain;
(BD)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 I (BE)called to my lovers, but they deserted me;
My (BF)priests and my elders perished in the city
While they sought food to (BG)restore their [w]strength themselves.
20 See, Lord, for I am in distress;
My [x](BH)spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very (BI)rebellious.
In the street the sword has made women childless;
In the house it is like death.
21 They have heard that I (BJ)groan;
There is no one to comfort me,
All my enemies have heard of my disaster;
They are (BK)joyful that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,
So that they will become (BL)like me.
22 May all their wickedness come before You;
And (BM)deal with them just as You have dealt with me
For all my wrongdoings.
For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”
God’s Anger over Israel
2 How the Lord has [y](BN)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has (BO)hurled
The (BP)glory of Israel from heaven to earth,
And has not remembered His (BQ)footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has [z](BR)destroyed; He has not spared
All the settlements of Jacob.
In His wrath He has (BS)overthrown
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah,
He has (BT)hurled them down to the ground;
He has (BU)profaned the kingdom and its leaders.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off
[aa]All the (BV)strength of Israel;
He has (BW)pulled back His right hand
From the enemy.
And He has (BX)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming on all sides.
4 He has bent His (BY)bow like an enemy;
His right hand is positioned like an adversary,
And He has killed everything that was (BZ)pleasant to the eye.
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has (CA)poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an (CB)enemy.
He has (CC)engulfed Israel;
He has engulfed all its (CD)palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And (CE)caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.
6 And He has treated His [ab]tabernacle violently, like a despised garden;
He has (CF)destroyed His appointed [ac]meeting place.
The Lord has (CG)caused
The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten,
And He has (CH)despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has (CI)rejected His altar,
He has [ad]repudiated His sanctuary;
He (CJ)has handed over
The walls of her palaces to the enemy.
They have made a (CK)noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has (CL)stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from [ae]destroying,
And He has (CM)caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
9 Her (CN)gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her leaders are among the nations;
The (CO)Law is gone.
Her prophets, too, find
(CP)No vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(CQ)Sit on the ground and [af](CR)are silent.
They have thrown (CS)dust on their heads;
They have put on (CT)sackcloth.
The (CU)virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My (CV)eyes fail because of tears,
My [ag](CW)spirit is greatly troubled;
My [ah](CX)heart is poured out on the earth
(CY)Because of the [ai]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When (CZ)little ones and infants languish
In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“(DA)Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded person
In the streets of the city,
As their (DB)lives are poured out
[aj]In their mothers’ arms.
13 How shall I admonish you?
What (DC)shall I compare to you,
Daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I liken to you as I comfort you,
(DD)Virgin daughter of Zion?
For your collapse is as vast as the sea;
Who can (DE)heal you?
14 Your (DF)prophets have seen for you
Worthless and deceptive visions;
And they have not (DG)exposed your wrongdoing
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have (DH)seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements.
15 All who pass along the way
(DI)Clap their hands in ridicule at you;
They (DJ)[ak]hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘(DK)Perfect in beauty,
(DL)A joy to all the earth’?”
16 All (DM)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They [al]hiss and (DN)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have (DO)engulfed her!
This certainly is the (DP)day which we awaited;
We have reached it, we have seen it!”
17 The Lord has (DQ)done what He determined;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has torn down (DR)without sparing,
And He has helped the enemy to (DS)rejoice over you;
He has (DT)exalted the [am]might of your adversaries.
18 Their (DU)heart cried out to the Lord:
“You (DV)wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your (DW)tears stream down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let [an]your eyes have no rest.
19 Arise, whimper in the (DX)night
At the beginning of the night watches;
(DY)Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Raise your hands to Him
For the (DZ)life of your little ones
Who (EA)languish because of hunger
At the head of every street.
20 See, Lord, and look!
With (EB)whom have You dealt this way?
Should women really (EC)eat their [ao]children,
The little ones who were [ap]born healthy?
Should (ED)priest and prophet really be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 On the ground in the streets
Lie (EE)young and old;
My (EF)virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword.
You have put them to death on the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered, (EG)without sparing.
22 You called as on the day of an appointed feast
My (EH)terrors on every side;
And there was (EI)no one who survived or escaped
On the day of the Lord’s anger.
As for those (EJ)whom I brought forth healthy and whom I raised,
My enemy annihilated them.”
Jeremiah Shares Israel’s Misery
3 I am the man who has (EK)seen misery
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In (EL)darkness and not in light.
3 Indeed, He has (EM)turned His hand against me
Repeatedly all the day.
4 He has consumed my (EN)flesh and my skin,
He has (EO)broken my bones.
5 He has [aq](EP)besieged and surrounded me with [ar](EQ)bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me live in (ER)dark places,
Like those who have long been dead.
7 He has (ES)walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my [as](ET)chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He (EU)shuts out my prayer.
9 He has (EV)blocked my ways with cut stone;
He has twisted my paths.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has made my ways deviate, and (EW)torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He (EX)bent His bow
And (EY)took aim at me as a target for the arrow.
13 He made the [at]arrows of His (EZ)quiver
Enter my [au]inward parts.
14 I have become a (FA)laughingstock to all my people,
Their (FB)song of ridicule all the day.
15 He has (FC)filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink plenty of wormwood.
16 He has also (FD)made my teeth grind with (FE)gravel;
He has made me cower in the (FF)dust.
17 My soul has been excluded (FG)from peace;
I have forgotten [av]happiness.
18 So I say, “My [aw]strength has failed,
And so has my (FH)hope from the Lord.”
Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy
19 Remember my misery and my homelessness, the (FI)wormwood and [ax]bitterness.
20 (FJ)My soul certainly remembers,
And [ay]is (FK)bent over within me.
21 I recall this to my mind,
Therefore I [az](FL)wait.
22 [ba]The Lord’s (FM)acts of mercy indeed do not end,
(FN)For His compassions do not fail.
23 They are new (FO)every morning;
Great is (FP)Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my (FQ)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I [bb](FR)wait for Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who [bc](FS)await Him,
To the [bd]person who (FT)seeks Him.
26 It is good that he (FU)waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him (FV)sit alone and keep quiet,
Since He has laid it on him.
29 Let him [be]put his mouth in the (FW)dust;
Perhaps there is (FX)hope.
30 Let him give his (FY)cheek to the one who is going to strike him;
Let him be filled with shame.
31 For the Lord will (FZ)not reject forever,
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have (GA)compassion
In proportion to His abundant mercy.
33 For He (GB)does not [bf]afflict [bg]willingly
Or [bh]grieve the sons of mankind.
34 To crush under [bi]one’s feet
All the prisoners of the [bj]land,
35 To [bk]deprive a man of (GC)justice
In the presence of the Most High,
36 To [bl](GD)defraud someone in his lawsuit—
Of these things the Lord does not [bm]approve.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 Or districts
- Lamentations 1:3 Lit great
- Lamentations 1:3 Or narrow places
- Lamentations 1:4 Or to
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit head
- Lamentations 1:5 Or at ease
- Lamentations 1:5 Or tormented her
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit before
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit gone
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit Before
- Lamentations 1:7 Lit cessation
- Lamentations 1:8 Or abomination
- Lamentations 1:9 Or remember her final end
- Lamentations 1:9 Lit gone down
- Lamentations 1:9 Or boasted
- Lamentations 1:11 Lit soul
- Lamentations 1:13 I.e., heaven
- Lamentations 1:13 Or Sick
- Lamentations 1:14 Lit falter
- Lamentations 1:15 Another reading is feast
- Lamentations 1:16 Lit My eye, my eye
- Lamentations 1:18 Lit mouth
- Lamentations 1:19 Lit soul
- Lamentations 1:20 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:1 Or scorned...Zion in His anger
- Lamentations 2:2 Lit engulfed
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit Every horn
- Lamentations 2:6 Or booth
- Lamentations 2:6 Or feast
- Lamentations 2:7 I.e., scornfully rejected
- Lamentations 2:8 Lit engulfing
- Lamentations 2:10 Another reading is wail
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit liver
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:12 Lit on...breast
- Lamentations 2:15 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:16 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:17 Lit horn
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit the daughter of your eye
- Lamentations 2:20 Lit fruit
- Lamentations 2:20 Or tenderly cared for
- Lamentations 3:5 Lit built against
- Lamentations 3:5 Lit poison
- Lamentations 3:7 Lit bronze piece
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit sons
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit kidneys
- Lamentations 3:17 Lit good
- Lamentations 3:18 Or splendor
- Lamentations 3:19 Lit poison
- Lamentations 3:20 Or bows down
- Lamentations 3:21 Lit have hope
- Lamentations 3:22 As in ancient versions; MT It is...mercy that we do not end
- Lamentations 3:24 Or hope in
- Lamentations 3:25 Or hope in
- Lamentations 3:25 Lit soul
- Lamentations 3:29 Lit give
- Lamentations 3:33 Or oppress
- Lamentations 3:33 Lit from His heart
- Lamentations 3:33 Or torment
- Lamentations 3:34 Lit his
- Lamentations 3:34 Or earth
- Lamentations 3:35 Or turn aside a man’s case
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit bend
- Lamentations 3:36 Lit see
Lamentations 1:1-3:36
New International Version
Lamentations 1:1-3:36
New International Version
1 [a]How deserted(A) lies the city,
once so full of people!(B)
How like a widow(C) is she,
who once was great(D) among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.(E)
2 Bitterly she weeps(F) at night,
tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers(G)
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed(H) her;
they have become her enemies.(I)
3 After affliction and harsh labor,
Judah has gone into exile.(J)
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.(K)
All who pursue her have overtaken her(L)
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,(M)
for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,(N)
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.(O)
5 Her foes have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief(P)
because of her many sins.(Q)
Her children have gone into exile,(R)
captive before the foe.(S)
6 All the splendor has departed
from Daughter Zion.(T)
Her princes are like deer
that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled(U)
before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and wandering
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
there was no one to help her.(V)
Her enemies looked at her
and laughed(W) at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem has sinned(X) greatly
and so has become unclean.(Y)
All who honored her despise her,
for they have all seen her naked;(Z)
she herself groans(AA)
and turns away.
9 Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
she did not consider her future.(AB)
Her fall(AC) was astounding;
there was none to comfort(AD) her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,(AE)
for the enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy laid hands
on all her treasures;(AF)
she saw pagan nations
enter her sanctuary(AG)—
those you had forbidden(AH)
to enter your assembly.
11 All her people groan(AI)
as they search for bread;(AJ)
they barter their treasures for food
to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?(AK)
Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering(AL)
that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
in the day of his fierce anger?(AM)
13 “From on high he sent fire,
sent it down into my bones.(AN)
He spread a net(AO) for my feet
and turned me back.
He made me desolate,(AP)
faint(AQ) all the day long.
14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke[b];(AR)
by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands(AS)
of those I cannot withstand.
15 “The Lord has rejected
all the warriors in my midst;(AT)
he has summoned an army(AU) against me
to[c] crush my young men.(AV)
In his winepress(AW) the Lord has trampled(AX)
Virgin Daughter(AY) Judah.
16 “This is why I weep
and my eyes overflow with tears.(AZ)
No one is near to comfort(BA) me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
because the enemy has prevailed.”(BB)
17 Zion stretches out her hands,(BC)
but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has decreed for Jacob
that his neighbors become his foes;(BD)
Jerusalem has become
an unclean(BE) thing(BF) among them.
18 “The Lord is righteous,(BG)
yet I rebelled(BH) against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
look on my suffering.(BI)
My young men and young women
have gone into exile.(BJ)
19 “I called to my allies(BK)
but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
perished(BL) in the city
while they searched for food
to keep themselves alive.
20 “See, Lord, how distressed(BM) I am!
I am in torment(BN) within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,(BO)
for I have been most rebellious.(BP)
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.(BQ)
21 “People have heard my groaning,(BR)
but there is no one to comfort me.(BS)
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
they rejoice(BT) at what you have done.
May you bring the day(BU) you have announced
so they may become like me.
22 “Let all their wickedness come before you;
deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my sins.(BV)
My groans(BW) are many
and my heart is faint.”
2 [d]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his anger[e]!(BX)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool(BY)
in the day of his anger.(BZ)
2 Without pity(CA) the Lord has swallowed(CB) up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds(CC) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground(CD) in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn[f][g](CE) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand(CF)
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.(CG)
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow;(CH)
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;(CI)
he has poured out his wrath(CJ) like fire(CK)
on the tent(CL) of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy;(CM)
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.(CN)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(CO)
for Daughter Judah.(CP)
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed(CQ) his place of meeting.(CR)
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(CS)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.(CT)
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.(CU)
He has given the walls of her palaces(CV)
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.(CW)
8 The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.(CX)
He stretched out a measuring line(CY)
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(CZ) and walls lament;
together they wasted away.(DA)
9 Her gates(DB) have sunk into the ground;
their bars(DC) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(DD) among the nations,
the law(DE) is no more,
and her prophets(DF) no longer find
visions(DG) from the Lord.
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;(DH)
they have sprinkled dust(DI) on their heads(DJ)
and put on sackcloth.(DK)
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(DL)
11 My eyes fail from weeping,(DM)
I am in torment within(DN);
my heart(DO) is poured out(DP) on the ground
because my people are destroyed,(DQ)
because children and infants faint(DR)
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”(DS)
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away(DT)
in their mothers’ arms.(DU)
13 What can I say for you?(DV)
With what can I compare you,
Daughter(DW) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?(DX)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(DY)
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets
were false(DZ) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.(EA)
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.(EB)
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you;(EC)
they scoff(ED) and shake their heads(EE)
at Daughter Jerusalem:(EF)
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,(EG)
the joy of the whole earth?”(EH)
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;(EI)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(EJ)
and say, “We have swallowed her up.(EK)
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”(EL)
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled(EM) his word,
which he decreed long ago.(EN)
He has overthrown you without pity,(EO)
he has let the enemy gloat over you,(EP)
he has exalted the horn[h] of your foes.(EQ)
18 The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.(ER)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(ES)
let your tears(ET) flow like a river
day and night;(EU)
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.(EV)
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(EW) like water
in the presence of the Lord.(EX)
Lift up your hands(EY) to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint(EZ) from hunger
at every street corner.
20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(FA)
the children they have cared for?(FB)
Should priest and prophet be killed(FC)
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(FD)
21 “Young and old lie together
in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
have fallen by the sword.(FE)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
you have slaughtered them without pity.(FF)
22 “As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrors(FG) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped(FH) or survived;
those I cared for and reared(FI)
my enemy has destroyed.”
3 [i]I am the man who has seen affliction(FJ)
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(FK)
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness(FL) rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me(FM)
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(FN)
and has broken my bones.(FO)
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness(FP) and hardship.(FQ)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.(FR)
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(FS)
he has weighed me down with chains.(FT)
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,(FU)
he shuts out my prayer.(FV)
9 He has barred(FW) my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.(FX)
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion(FY) in hiding,(FZ)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(GA) me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(GB)
and made me the target(GC) for his arrows.(GD)
13 He pierced(GE) my heart
with arrows from his quiver.(GF)
14 I became the laughingstock(GG) of all my people;(GH)
they mock me in song(GI) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.(GJ)
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(GK)
he has trampled me in the dust.(GL)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”(GM)
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness(GN) and the gall.(GO)
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast(GP) within me.(GQ)
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love(GR) we are not consumed,(GS)
for his compassions never fail.(GT)
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(GU)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(GV)
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;(GW)
26 it is good to wait quietly(GX)
for the salvation of the Lord.(GY)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,(GZ)
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(HA)—
there may yet be hope.(HB)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(HC)
and let him be filled with disgrace.(HD)
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 1:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins
- Lamentations 1:15 Or has set a time for me / when he will
- Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt
- Lamentations 2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king
- Lamentations 2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength.
- Lamentations 2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength.
- Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.