LXX Lamentations

1 And it happened, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said,⁠a ALEPH. How does the city that was filled with people sit solitary! she has become as a widow: she that was magnified among the nations, and princess among the provinces, has become tributary. 2 BETH. She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; and there is none of all her lovers to comfort her: all that were her friends have dealt deceitfully with her, they have become her enemies. 3 GIMEL. Judea has gone into captivity by reason of her affliction, and by reason of the abundance of her servitude: she dwells among the nations, she has not found rest: all her pursuers have overtaken her between her oppressors. 4 DALETH. The ways of Zion mourn, because there are none that come to the feast: all her gates are ruined: her priests groan, her virgins are led captive, and she is in bitterness in herself. 5 HE. Her oppressors have become the head, and her enemies have prospered; for the Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude of her sins: her young children have gone into captivity before the face of the oppressor. 6 VAU. And all her beauty has been taken away from the daughter of Zion: her princes were as rams finding no pasture, and have gone away in weakness before the face of the pursuer. 7 ZAIN. Jerusalem remembered the days of her affliction, and her rejection; she thought on all her desirable things which were from the days of old, when her people fell into the hands of the oppressor, and there was none to help her: when her enemies saw it they laughed at her habitation. 8 HETH. Jerusalem has sinned a great sin; therefore she has come into tribulation, all that used to honor her have afflicted her, for they have seen her shame: yes, she herself groaned, and turned backward. 9 TETH. Her uncleanness is before her feet; she did not remember her last end; she has lowered her boasting tone, there is none to comfort her. Look, Lord, my affliction: for the enemy has magnified himself. 10 JOD. The oppressor has stretched out his hand on all her desirable things: for she has seen the Gentiles entering into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your congregation. 11 CHAPH. All her people groan, seeking bread: they have given their desirable things for food, to restore their soul: look, Lord, and look; for I have become dishonored. 12 LAMED. Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by the way? turn, and see if there is sorrow like my sorrow, which has happened to me. The Lord who spoke by me has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. 13 MEM. He has sent fire from his lofty habitation, he has brought it into my bones: he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: he has made me desolate and mourning all the day. 14 NUN. He has watched over my sins, they are twined about my hands, they have come up on my neck: my strength has failed; for the Lord has laid pains on my hands, I shall not be able to stand. 15 SAMECH. The Lord has cut off all my strong men from the midst of me: he has summoned against me a time for crushing my choice men: the Lord has trodden a wine-press for the virgin daughter of Judah: for these things I weep. 16 AIN. My eye has poured out water, because he that should comfort me, that should restore my soul, has been removed far from me: my sons have been destroyed, because the enemy has prevailed. 17 PHE. Zion has spread out her hand, and there is none to comfort her: the Lord has commanded concerning Jacob, his oppressors are all around him: Jerusalem has become among them as a removed woman. 18 TSADE. The Lord is righteous; for I have provoked his mouth: hear, Please, all people, and look at my grief: my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. 19 KOPH. I called my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and my elders failed in the city; for they sought food that they might restore their souls, and did not find it. 20 RHECHS. Look, Lord; for I am afflicted: my belly is troubled, and my heart is turned within me; for I have been severely rebellious: abroad the sword has bereaved me, even as death at home. 21 CHSEN. Hear, Please, for I groan: there is none to comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my afflictions, and rejoice because you have done it: you have brought on the day, you have called the time: they have become like me. 22 THAU. Let all their wickedness come before your face; and strip them, as they have made a gleaning for all my sins: for my groans are many, and my heart is grieved.

1 ALEPH. How has the Lord darkened in his fierce anger the daughter of Zion! he has cast down the glory of Israel from heaven to earth, and has not remembered the footstool of his feet in the day of his fierce anger. 2 BETH. The Lord has overwhelmed her as in the sea, and has not spared all the beautiful things of Jacob: he has brought down in his fury the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought them down to the ground; he has profaned her king and her princes. 3 GIMEL. He has broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has turned back his right hand from the face of the enemy, and has kindled a flame in Jacob as a fire, and it has devoured all things all around. 4 DALETH. He has bent his bow as an opposing enemy: he has strengthened his right hand as an adversary, and has destroyed all the desirable things of my eyes in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he has poured forth his anger as fire. 5 HE. The Lord has become as an enemy: he has overwhelmed Israel as in the sea, he has overwhelmed all her palaces: he has destroyed her strongholds, and has multiplied the afflicted and humbled ones to the daughter of Judah. 6 VAU. And he has scattered his tabernacle as a vine, he has marred his feast: the Lord has forgotten the feast and the sabbath which he appointed in Zion, and in the fury of his anger has afflicted the king, and priest, and prince. 7 ZAIN. The Lord has rejected his altar, he has cast off his sanctuary, he has broken by the hand of the enemy the wall of her palaces; they have uttered their voice in the house of the Lord as on a feast day. 8 HETH. And the Lord has turned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he has stretched out the measuring line, he has not turned back his hand from afflicting her: therefore the bulwark mourned, and the wall was weakened with it. 9 TETH. Her gates have sunk into the ground: he has destroyed and broken to pieces her bars, and her king and her princes among the Gentiles: there is no law, yes, her prophets have seen no vision from the Lord. 10 JOD. The elders of the daughter of Zion have sat upon the ground, they have kept silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloths: they have brought down to the ground the chief virgins in Jerusalem. 11 CHAPH. My eyes have failed with tears,⁠a my heart is troubled, my glory is cast down to the ground, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; while the infant and suckling swoon in the streets of the city. 12 LAMED. They said to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? while they fainted like wounded men in the streets of the city, while their souls were poured out into their mothers' bosom. 13 MEM. What shall I testify to you, or what shall I compare to you, daughter of Jerusalem? who shall save and comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? for the cup of your destruction is enlarged: who shall heal you? 14 NUN. Your prophets have seen for you vanities and folly: and they have not revealed your iniquity, to turn back your captivity; but they have seen for you vain burdens, and worthless visions. 15 SAMECH. All that go by the way have clapped their hands at you; they have hissed and shaken their head at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city, they say, the crown of glory, the joy of all the earth? 16 AIN. All your enemies have opened their mouth against you: they have hissed and gnashed their teeth, and said, We have swallowed her up: moreover this is the day which we looked for; we have found it, we have seen it. 17 PHE. The Lord has done that which he purposed; he has accomplished his word, even the things which he commanded from the ancient days: he has thrown down, and has not spared: and he has caused the enemy to rejoice over you, he has exalted the horn of him that afflicted you. 18 TSADE. Their heart cried to the Lord, You walls of Zion, pour down tears like torrents day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eyes cease. 19 KOPH. Arise, rejoice in the night at the beginning of your watch: pour out your heart as water before the face of the Lord; lift up your hands to him for the life of your infants, who faint for hunger at the top of all the streets. 20 RHECHS. Look, Lord, and see for whom you have gathered thus. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? the cook has made a gathering: shall the infants sucking at the breasts be killed? will you kill the priest and prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 CHSEN. The child and old man have lain down in the street: my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity: you have killed them with the sword and with famine; in the day of your fierce anger you have mangled them, you have not spared. 22 THAU. He has called my temporary residents all around to a solemn day, and there was not in the day of the fierce anger of the Lord any one that escaped or was left; whereas I have strengthened and multiplied all my enemies.

1 ALEPH. I am the man that sees poverty, through the rod of his fierce anger upon me. 2 He has taken me, and led me away into darkness, and not into light. 3 Surely against me he has turned his hand all the day. 4 He has made old my flesh and my skin; he has broken my bones. 5 BETH. He has built against me, and surrounded my head, and brought anguish upon me. 6 He has set me in dark places, as those who have long been dead. 7 He has built against me, and I can’t come forth: he has made my brass chain heavy. 8 GIMEL. Yes, though I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer. 9 DALETH. He has built up my ways, he has hedged my paths; he has troubled me; 10 he is to me as a she-bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places. 11 He pursued me after I departed, and brought me to a stand: he has utterly ruined me. 12 HE. He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 13 He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my kidneys. 14 I became a laughing stock to all my people; and their song all the day. 15 VAU. He has filled me with bitterness, he has drenched me with gall. 16 And he has dashed out my teeth with gravel, he has fed me with ashes. 17 He has also removed my soul from peace: I forgot prosperity. 18 And I said, My success has perished, and my hope from the Lord. 19 ZAIN. I remembered by reason of my poverty, and because of persecution, my bitterness and gall; 20 it shall be remembered, and my soul shall meditate with me. 21 I will lay this up in my heart, therefore I will endure. 22  23  24  25 TETH. The Lord is good to those who wait for him: the soul which shall seek him is good, 26 and shall wait for, and quietly expect the salvation of the Lord. 27 TETH. It is good for a man when he bears a yoke in his youth. 28 He will sit alone, and be silent, because he has borne it upon him. 29  30 JOD. He will give his cheek to him that strikes him: he will be filled full with reproaches. 31 For the Lord will not reject for ever. 32 CHAPH. For he that has brought down will pity, and that according to the abundance of his mercy. 33 For he has not answered from his heart, though he has brought low the children of a man. 34 LAMED. To bring down under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, 35 to turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the Most High, 36 to condemn a man unjustly in his judgment, the Lord has not given commandment. 37 Who has thus spoken, and it has come to pass? the Lord has not commanded it. 38 Out of the mouth of the Most High there shall not come forth evil and good. 39 MEM. Why should a living man complain, a man concerning his sin? 40 NUN. Our way has been searched out and examined, and we will turn to the Lord. 41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hand to the lofty One in heaven. 42 We have sinned, we have transgressed; and you have not pardoned. 43 SAMECH. You have covered us in fierce anger, and driven us away: you have killed, you have not pitied. 44 You have veiled yourself with a cloud because of prayer, 45 that I might be blind, and be cast off. AIN. You have set us in the midst of the nations. 46 All our enemies have opened their mouth against us. 47 Fear and fierce anger have come upon us, suspense and destruction. 48 My eye shall pour down torrents of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 PHE. My eye is drowned with tears, and I will not be silent, so that there shall be no rest, 50 until the Lord look down, and see from heaven. 51 My eye shall prey upon my soul, because of all the daughters of the city. 52 TSADE. The fowlers chased me as a sparrow, my enemies, without cause; 53 they destroyed my life in a pit, and laid a stone upon me. 54 Water flowed over my head: I said, I am cut off. 55 KOPH. I called upon your name, Lord, out of the lowest dungeon. 56 You heard my voice: do not close your ears to my plea. 57 You drew near to my help: in the day in which I called upon you, you said to me, Do not fear. 58 RECHS. Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul; you have redeemed my life. 59 You have seen, Lord, my troubles: you have judged my cause. 60 You have seen all their vengeance, you have looked on all their devices against me. 61 CHSEN. You have heard their reproach and all their devices against me; 62 the lips of those who rose up against me, and their plots against me all the day; 63 their sitting down and their rising up: look upon their eyes. 64 You will render them a payment, Lord, according to the works of their hands. 65 THAU. You will give them a covering of heart, your grief upon them. 66 You will persecute them in anger, and will consume them from under the heaven, Lord.

1 ALEPH. How will the gold be tarnished, and the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets. 2 BETH. The precious sons of Zion, who were equaled in value with gold, how are they counted as earthen vessels, the works of the hands of the potter! 3 GIMEL. Even dragons have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as a sparrow in a desert.⁠a 4 DALETH. The tongue of the sucking child clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, and there is none to break it to them. 5 HE. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung. 6 VAU. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been increased beyond the iniquities of Sodom, the city that was overthrown very suddenly, and none labored against her with their hands. 7 ZAIN. Her Nazarites were made purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were purified as with fire, their polishing was superior to sapphire stone. 8 HETH. Their face has become blacker than smoke; they are not known in the streets: their skin has clung to their bones; they are withered, they have become as a stick. 9 TETH. Those killed with the sword were better than those who were killed by hunger: they have departed, pierced through from lack of the fruits of the field. 10 JOD. The hands of tender-hearted women have boiled their own children: they became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11 CHAPH. The Lord has accomplished his fierce anger; he has poured out fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured her foundations. 12 LAMED. The kings of the earth, even all that dwell in the world, did not believe that an enemy and oppressor would enter through the gates of Jerusalem. 13 MEM. For the sins of her prophets, and iniquities of her priests, who shed righteous blood in the midst of her, 14 NUN. her watchmen staggered in the streets, they were defiled with blood in their weakness, they touched their clothing with it. 15 SAMECH. Depart from the unclean ones: call them: depart, depart, do not touch them: for they are on fire, yes, they stagger: say among the nations, They shall no more stay there. 16 AIN. The presence of the Lord was their portion; but he will not again look upon them: they did not regard the person of the priests, they did not pity the elders. 17 PHE. While we yet lived our eyes failed, while we looked in vain for our help. TSADE. We looked to a nation that could not save. 18 We have hunted for our little ones, that they should not walk in our streets. KOPH. Our time has drawn near, our days are fulfilled, our time has come. 19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky, they flew on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait for us. 20 RECHS. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their destructive snares,⁠b of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles. 21 CHSEN. Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Idumea, that dwell in the land: yet the cup of the Lord shall pass through to you: you shall be drunk, and pour forth. 22 THAU. daughter of Zion, your iniquity has come to an end; he shall no more carry you captive: he has visited your iniquities, daughter of Edom; he has revealed your sins.

1 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us: look, and look on our reproach. 2 Our inheritance has been turned away to aliens, our houses to strangers: 3 we have become orphans, we have no father, our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold to us in exchange: 5 upon our neck we have been persecuted, we have labored, we have had no rest. 6 Egypt gave the hand to us, Assyria to their own satisfaction. 7 Our fathers sinned, and are not: we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none to ransom us out of their hand. 9 We shall bring in our bread with danger of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because of the storms of famine. 11 They humbled the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes were hanged up by their hands: the elders were not honored. 13 The chosen men lifted up the voice in weeping, and the youths fainted under the wood. 14 And the elders ceased from the gate, the chosen men ceased from their music. 15 The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance has been turned into mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head: yes, woe to us! for we have sinned. 17 For this has grief come; our heart is sorrowful: for this our eyes are darkened. 18 Over the mountain of Zion, because it is made desolate, foxes have walked in it. 19 But you, Lord, shall dwell for ever; your throne shall endure to generation and generation. 20 Why will you utterly forget us, and abandon us a long time? 21 Turn us, Lord, to you, and we shall be turned; and renew our days as before. 22 For you have indeed rejected us; you have been very angry against us.⁠a