Scriptures

Lamentations chapter 2

¶ Aleph. Alas, how hath the Lord darkened the daughter of Sion so sore in his wrath? As for the honour of Israel, he hath casten it down from heaven: How happeneth it, that he remembered not his own foot stool when he was angry? Beth. The Lord hath cast down all the glory of Iacob without any favour: all the strong places of the daughter Iuda hath he broken in his wrath, and thrown them down to the ground: her kingdom and her princes hath he suspended. Gimel. In the wrath of his indignation he hath broken all the horn of Israel: he hath withdrawn his right hand from the enemy: yea a flame of fire is kindled in Iacob, and hath consumed up all round about. Daleth. He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath fastened his right hand as an adversary: and everything that was pleasant to see, he hath smitten it down. He hath poured out his wrath like a fire, into the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion. He. The Lord is become, like as it were an enemy, he hath cast down Israel and all his places: yea all his strongholds hath he destroyed, and filled the daughter of Iuda with much sorrow and heaviness. Vau. Her tabernacle (which was like a garden of pleasure) hath he destroyed: her high solempne feasts hath he put down. The LORD hath brought it so to pass, that the high solempne feasts and Sabbaths in Sion, are clean forgotten. In his heavy displeasure hath he made the king and priests to be despised. Zain. The Lord hath forsaken his own alter, and is wroth with his own sanctuary, and hath given the walls of their towers into the hands of the enemy. Their enemies made a noise in the house of the LORD, as it had been in a solempne feast day. CHeth. The LORD thought to break down the walls of the daughter Sion, he spread out his line, and drew not in his hand, till he had destroyed them. Therefore mourn the turrets and the broken walls together. Teth. Her ports are cast down to the ground, her bars are broken and smitten in sunder: her king and princes are carried away to the gentiles. They have neither law nor Prophets, nor yet any vision from the LORD.
¶ Iod. The Senators of the daughter Sion sit upon the ground in silence: they have strowed ashes upon their heads, and girded themselves with sack cloth. The maidens of Ierusalem hang down their heads to the ground. Caph. Mine eyes begin to fail me thorow weeping, my body is disquieted, my lever is poured upon the earth, for the great hurt of my people, seeing the children and babes did swoon in the streets of the city. Lamed. Even when they spake to their mothers: where is meat and drink? for while they so said, they fell down in the streets of the city, like as they had been wounded, and some died in their mothers' bosom. Mem. What shall I say of thee, O thou daughter Ierusalem, to whom shall I liken thee? To whom shall I compare thee, O thou daughter Sion, to comfort thee withal? Thy hurt is like a main sea, who may heal thee? Nun. Thy prophets have looked out vain and foolish things for thee, they have not shewed thee of thy wickedness, to keep thee from captivity: but have overladen thee, and thorow falsity scattered thee abroad. Samech. All they that go by thee, clap their hands at thee: hissing and wagging their heads upon the daughter Ierusalem, and say: is this the city that men call so fair, wherein the whole land rejoiceth? Ain. All thine enemies gape upon thee, whispering and biting their teeth, saying: let us devour, for the time that we looked for, is come: we have found and seen it. Phe. The LORD hath fulfilled the thing, that he was purposed to do: and performed that he had devised long ago: he hath destroyed, and not spared. He hath caused thine adversary to triumph over thee, and set up the horn of thine enemy. Zade. Let thine heart cry unto the Lord, O thou city of the daughter Sion: let thy tears run down like a river day and night: rest not, and let not the apple of thine eye leave off. Koph. Stond up and make thy prayer in the first watch of the night, pour out thine heart like water before the Lord: lift up thine hands for the lives of thy young children, that die of hunger in the streets. Res. Behold, O LORD, and consider, why hast thou gathered me up so clean: Shall the women then eat their own fruit, even children of a spanne long: Shall the priests and prophets be slain thus in the Sanctuary of the Lord? Sin. Young and old lie behind the streets upon the ground, my maidens and young men are slain with the sword: whom thou in the day of thy wrothful indignation hast put to death: Yea even thou hast put them to death, and not spared them. Thau. My neighbours that are round about me, hast thou called, as it were to a feast day: so that in the day of the LORD's wrath none escaped, neither was any left behind. Those that I had brought up and nourished, hath mine enemy destroyed.

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