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LAMENTATIONS
Chapter
1
1
Alas, how sitteth the cite so desolate, yt some tyme was full of people? how is
she become like a wedowe, which was the lady of all nacions? How is she brought
vnder tribute, that ruled all londes?
2 She wepeth sore in the night, so that ye teares runne downe hir chekes: for
amonge all hir louers, there is none, that geueth her eny comforte: yee hir
nexte frendes abhorre her, & are become hir enemies.
3 Iuda is taken presoner, because she was defyled: & for seruynge so many
straunge goddes, she dwelleth now amonge the Heithen. She fyndeth no rest, all
they that persecuted her, toke her, and so she dwelleth amonge hir enemies.
4 The stretes of Sion mourne, because no man commeth more to the solempne
feastes: All hir gates are desolate, hir prestes make lamentacion, hir maydens
are carefull, and she herself is in greate heuynesse.
5 Hir enemies are fallen vpon hir heade, & haue put her to shame: because
the LORDE hath chastened her for hir greate wickednes: hir children are ledde
awaye captiue before their enemie.
6 All the bewtie of the doughter of Sion is awaye, hir prynces are become like
wethers, that fynde no pasture. They are dryue awaye before their enemie, so
that they haue no more power.
7 Now doth Ierusalem remembre the tyme of hir misery & disobedience, yee the
ioye & pleasure yt she hath had in tymes past: seynge hir people is brought
downe thorow the power of their enemie, & there is no man for to helpe her:
hir enemies stode lokinge at her and laugh hir Sabbath dayes to scorne.
8 Ierusalem synned euer more & more, therfore is she come in decaye. All
they that had her in honoure, despise her: for they haue sene hir fylthinesse.
Yee she sigheth, and is a shamed of herselfe.
9 Hir skyrtes are defyled, she remebred not what wolde folowe: therfore is hir
fall so greate, and there is no ma to comforte her. O LORDE, cosidre my trouble,
for myne enemie hath the vpper honde.
10 The enemie hath put his honde to all the precious thinges that she had, yee
euen before hir eyes came the Heithen in and out of the Sanctuary: whom thou (neuertheles)
hast forbydden to come within thy congregacion.
11 All hir people seke their bred with heuynes, & loke what precious thinge
euery man hath, that geueth he for meate, to saue his life. Considre (O LORDE)
and se, how vyle I am become.
12 O ye all that go fore by, beholde and se, yf there be eny sorowe like vnto
myne, wherwith the LORDE hath troubled me, in the daye of his fearefull wrath.
13 From aboue hath he sent downe a fyre, in to my bones and chastened me: he
hath layed a net for my fete, and throwne me wyde open: he hath made me
desolate, so that I must euer be mournynge.
14 The yocke of my transgression is come at the last, with his honde hath he
taken it vp, and put it aboute my neck. My strength is gone: the LORDE hath
delyuered me in to those hondes, wherout I can not quyte myself.
15 The LORDE hath destroyed all the mightie men, that were in me. He hath
proclamed a feast, to slaughter all my best me. The LORDE hath troden downe the
doughter of Iuda, like as it were in a wyne presse.
16 Therfore do I wepe, and myne eyes gusshe out of water: for the coforter that
shulde quycken me, is farre fro me. My children are dryuen awaye, for why? the
enemie hath gotten the ouer honde.
17 Sion casteth out hir hodes, and there is no man to comforte her. The LORDE
hath layed the enemies rounde aboute Iacob, and Ierusalem is as it were a
menstruous woma, in the myddest of them.
18 The LORDE is rightuous, for I haue prouoked his countenaunce vnto anger. O
take hede all ye people, and considre my heuynes: My maydens and my yonge men
are led awaye in to captiuyte.
19 I called for my louers (but they begyled me:) for my prestes and councelers,
but they perished: euen while they sought for meate, to saue their lyues.
20 Considre (O LORDE) how I am troubled, my wombe is disquieted, my herte
turneth aboute in me, and I am full of heuynes. The swearde hurteth me without,
and within I am like vnto death.
21 They heare my mournynge, but there is none that wil comforte me. All myne
enemies haue herde of my trouble, and are glad therof, because thou hast done
it. But thou shalt brynge forth the tyme, when they also shal be like vnto me.
22 From the shall come all their aduersite: thou shalt plucke them awaye, eue as
thou hast plucked me, because of all my wickednesse. For my sorow is very greate,
and my herte is heuy.
Chapter
2
1 Alas, how hath ye LORDE darckened the doughter of Sion so sore in his wrath?
As for the honoure of
Israel
, he hath casten it downe from heauen: How happeneth it, that he remembred not
his owne fote stole, when he was angrie?
2 The LORDE hath cast downe all the glory of Iacob without eny fauoure: All the
stronge places of the doughter Iuda hath he broken in his wrath, & throwne
them downe to the grounde: hir kyngdome & hir prynces hath he suspended.
3 In the wrath of his indignacion he hath broken all the horne of
Israel
: he hath withdrawe his right honde from the enemie: yee a flame of fyre is
kyndled in Iacob, & hath consumed vp all rounde aboute.
4 He hath bent his bowe like an enemie, he hath fastened his right honde as an
aduersary; and euery thinge that was pleasaut to se, he hath smyten it downe. He
hath poured out his wrath like a fyre, in to the tabernacle of the doughter
Sion.
5 The LORDE is become, like as it were an enemie, he hath cast downe
Israel
& all his places: yee all his stronge holdes hath he destroyed, and fylled
the doughter of Iuda wt moch sorow and heuynesse.
6 Hir tabernacle (which was like a garden of pleasure) hath he destroyed: hir
hie solepne feastes hath he put downe. The LORDE hath brought it so to passe,
that the hie solempne feastes and Sabbathes in Sion, are clene forgotte. In his
heuy displeasure hath he made the kynge & prestes to be despised.
7 The LORDE hath forsaken his owne aulter, & is wroth with his owne
Sanctuary, & hath geuen the walles of their towres in to the hondes of the
enemie. Their enemies made a noyse in the house of the LORDE, as it had bene in
a solempne feast daye.
8 The LORDE thought to breake downe the walles of the doughter Sion, he spred
out his lyne, & drewe not in his honde, till he had destroyed them. Therfore
mourne the turrettes and the broken walles together.
Lam 2:9 Hir portes are casten downe to the grounde, hir barres are broken &
smytten in sonder: hir kynge & prynces are caried awaye to the Getiles. They
haue nether lawe ner prophetes, ner yet eny vision from the LORDE.
10 The Senatours of the doughter Sion sit vpon the grounde in sylence, they haue
strowed asshes vpon their heades, and gyrded them selues with sack cloth. The
maydens of Ierusalem hange downe their heades to the grounde.
11 Myne eyes begynne to fayle me thorow wepinge, my body is disquieted, my leuer
is poured vpon the earth, for the greate hurte of my people, seynge the children
and babes dyd swowne in the stretes of the cite.
12 Euen when they spake to their mothers: where is meate and drynke? for whyle
they so sayde, they fell downe in the stretes of the cite, like as they had bene
wounded, and some dyed in their mothers bosome.
13 What shal I saye of the (O thou doughter Ierusalem) to whom shall I licke
the? To whom shal I copare the (o thou doughter Sion) to comforte the withall?
Thy hurte is like a mayne see, who maye heale the?
14 Thy prophetes haue loked out vayne & folish thinges for the, they haue
not shewed the of thy wickednesse, to kepe the from captiuyte: but haue
ouerladen the, and thorow falsede scatred the abrode.
15 All they that go by the, clappe their hondes at the: hissinge and wagginge
their heades vpon the doughter Ierusalem, and saye: is this the cite that men
call so fayre, wherin the whole londe reioyseth?
16 All thine enemies gape vpon the, whisperinge and bytinge their teth, sayenge:
let vs deuoure, for the tyme that we loked for, is come: we haue founde and sene
it.
17 The LORDE hath fulfilled the thinge, that he was purposed to do: and
perfourmed that he had deuysed longe agoo: he hath destroyed, and not spared. He
hath caused thine aduersary to tryumphe ouer the, and set vp the horne of thine
enemie.
18 Let thine hert crie vnto the LORDE, O thou cite of the doughter Sion: let thy
teares rune downe like a ryuer daye & night: rest not, & let not the
aple of thine eye leaue of.
19 Stonde vp, and make thy prayer in the first watch of the night, poure out
thine hert like water before the LORDE: lift vp thine hondes, for the lyues of
thy yonge children, that dye of honger in the stretes.
20 Beholde (O LORDE) & considre, why hast thou gathered me vp so clene? Shal
the women then eate their owne frute, euen children of a spanne longe? Shal the
prestes and prophetes be slayne thus in the Sanctuary of the LORDE?
21 Yonge & olde lye behinde the stretes vpon the grounde, my maydens &
yonge men are slayne with the swearde: whom thou in the daye of thy wrothfull
indignacion hast put to death: Yee euen thou hast put them to death, & not
spared them.
22 My neghbours that are rounde aboute me, hast thou called, as it were to a
feast daye: so that in the daye of the LORDES wrath none escaped, nether was eny
left behinde. Those that I had brought vp & norisshed, hath myne enemy
destroyed.
Chapter
3
1 I am the ma, that (thorow the rodd of his wrath) haue experiece of misery.
2 He droue me forth, and led me: yee into darcknesse, but not in to light.
3 Agaynst me only he turneth his honde, & layeth it euer vpon me.
4 My flesh & my skynne hath he made olde, and my bones hath he brussed.
5 He hath buylded rounde aboute me, & closed me in with gall and trauayle.
6 He hath set me in darcknesse, as they that be deed for euer.
7 He hath so hedged me in, that I can not get out, & hath layed heuy lynckes
vpon me.
8 Though I crie & call piteously, yet heareth he not my prayer.
9 He hath stopped vp my wayes with foure squared stones, & made my pathes
croked.
10 He layeth waite for me like a Bere, and as a
lyon
in a hole.
11 He hath marred my wayes, and broke me in peces, he hath layed me waist
altogether.
12 He hath bent his bowe, and made me as it were a marck to shute at.
13 The arowes of his quyuer hath he shot, euen in to my reynes.
14 I am laughed to scorne of all my people, they make songes vpon me all ye daye
loge.
15 He hath fylled me with bytternesse, & geuen me wormwod to drynke.
16 He hath smytten my teth in peces, & rolled me in the dust.
17 He hath put my soule out of rest, I forget all good thinges.
18 I thought in my self: I am vndone, there is no hope for me in the LORDE.
19 O remembre yet my mysery and my trouble, the wormwod and the gall.
20 Yee thou shalt remebre them, for my soule melteth awaye in me.
21 Whyle I cosidre these thinges in my hert, I get a hope agayne.
22 Namely, that the mercies of the LORDE are not clene gone, & that his
louynge kyndnesse ceasseth not.
23 His faithfulnes is greate, and renueth it self as the mornynge.
24 The LORDE is my porcion (saieth my soule) therfore wil I hope in him.
25 O how good is the LORDE vnto the, that put their trust in him, and to the
soule that seketh after him?
26 O how good is it with stilnesse to wate and tarie, for the health of the
LORDE?
27 O how good is it for a man, to take the yock vpon him from his youth vp?
28 He sitteth alone, he holdeth him still. and dwelleth quietly by him self.
29 He layeth his face vpon the earth, yf (percase) there happen to be eny hope.
30 He offreth his cheke to the smyter, he will be content with reproues.
31 For the LORDE wil not forsake for euer.
32 But though he do cast of, yet (acordinge to ye multitude of his mercies) he
receaueth to grace agayne.
33 For he doth not plage, & cast out the children of men from his herte.
34 To treade all the presoners of the earth vnder his fete.
35 To moue the iudgment of man before the most highest.
36 To condemne a man in his cause: The LORDE hath no pleasure in soch thinges.
37 What is he then that saieth: there shulde somthinge be done without the
LORDES comaundement?
38 Out of the mouth of the most highest goeth not euell and good.
39 Wherfore them murmureth the lyuinge man? let him murmoure at his owne synne,
40 Let vs loke well vpon oure owne waies, & remembre oure selues, and turne
agayne to ye LORDE.
41 Let vs lift vp oure hertes with oure hondes vnto the LORDE, that is in heauen.
42 We haue bene dyssemblers & haue offended, wilt thou therfore not be
intreated?
43 Thou hast couered vs in thy wrath, & persecuted vs, thou hast slayne vs
without eny fauoure.
44 Thou hast hyd thy self in a cloude, that oure prayer shulde not go thorow.
45 Thou hast made vs outcastes, and to be despysed amonge the Heithen.
46 All oure enemies gape vpon vs.
47 Feare and snare is come vpon vs, yee despite and destruccion.
48 Whole ryuers of water gusshe out of myne eyes, for the greate hurte of my
people.
49 Myne eyes runne, and can not ceasse, for there is no rest.
50 O LORDE, when wilt thou loke downe fro heauen, and considre?
51 Myne eye breaketh my herte, because of all the doughters of my cite.
52 Myne enemies hunted me out sharpely like a byrde, yee and that with out a
cause.
53 They haue put downe my life in to a pitte, and layed a stone vpon me.
54 They poured water vpon my heade, then thought I: now am I vndone.
55 I called vpon thy name (O LORDE) out of the depe pitte.
56 Thou hast herde my voyce, & hast not turned awaye thine eares fro my
sighinge and crienge.
57 Thou hast enclyned yi self vnto me, whe I called vpon the, & haist sayde:
feare not.
58 Thou (O LORDE) hast mayntened the cause of my soule, and hast redemed my
life.
59 O LORDE, thou hast sene my blasphemers, take thou my cause vpon the.
60 Thou hast well considred how they go aboute to do me harme, & that all
their councels are agaynst me.
61 Thou hast herde their despytefull wordes (O LORDE) yee and all their
ymaginacions agaynst me.
62 The lippes of myne enemies, & their deuyces that they take agaynst me,
all the daye longe.
63 Thou seist also their sittinge downe and their rysinge vp, they make their
songes of nothinge but of me.
64 Rewarde them (O LORDE) acordinge to the workes of their hondes.
65 Geue them ye thinge, that their owne herte is afrayed of: euen thy curse.
66 Persecute them, (O LORDE) with thy indignacion, & rote them out from
vnder the heauen.
Chapter
4
1 O how is the golde become so dymme? How is the goodly coloure of it so sore
chaunged? and the stones of ye Sanctuary thus scatred in the corner of euery
strete?
2 The children of Sion that were allwaye in honoure, & clothed with ye most
precious golde: how are they now becomme like the erthen vessels which be made
with the potters honde?
3 The Lamyes geue their yonge ones suck wt bare brestes: but the doughter of my
people is cruel, and dwelleth in the wyldernesse: like the Estriches.
4 The tonges of the suckinge children, cleue to ye rofe of their mouthes for
very thurst. The yonge children axe bred, but there is noman, that geueth it
them.
5 They that were wonte to fayre delicatly, perishe in the stretes: they that
afore were brought vp in purple, make now moch of donge.
6 The synne of the doughter of my people is become greater, then ye wickednesse
of Sodome, that sodely was destroyed, and not taken with hondes.
7 Hir absteyners (or Nazarees) were whyter then ye snowe or mylke: their coloure
was fresh read as the Corall, their beutie like the Saphyre.
8 But now their faces are very black: In so moch, that thou shuldest not knowe
them in the stretes. Their skynne cleueth to their bones, It is wythered, and
become like a drye stock.
9 They that be slayne with the swearde, are happier, then soch as dye of honger,
and perishe awaye famishinge for the frutes of the felde.
10 The wome (which of nature are pitefull) haue sodden their owne children with
their hondes: that they might be their meate, in ye miserable destruccion of the
doughter of my people.
11 The LORDE hath perfourmed his heuy wrath: he hath poured out the furiousnes
of his displeasure. He hath kindled a fyre in Sion, which hath consumed the
foundacions therof.
12 Nether the kinges of the earth, ner all ye inhabitours of the worlde, wolde
haue beleued, that the enemie & aduersary shulde haue come in at the gates
of the cite of Ierusale.
13 Which neuertheles is come to passe for ye synnes of hir prophetes, and for
the wickednes of hir prestes, that haue shed innocentes bloude within her.
14 So that these blynde men wete stomblinge in the stretes, and stayned
themselues wt bloude, which els wolde touche no bloudy cloth.
15 But they cried vnto euery ma: fle the staynynge, awaye, get you hece, touch
it not. Yee (sayde they) ye must be brent, ye must dwell amonge the Gentiles,
& byde no longer here.
16 The countenaunce of the LORDE hath banyshed them, & shal neuer loke more
vpon them: For they them selues nether regarded the prestes, nor pitied their
elders.
17 Wherfore yet oure eyes fayle vs, whyle we loke for vayne helpe: seynge we be
euer waitynge vpon a people, that can do vs no good,
18 They laye so sharpe waite for vs, that we can not go safe vpon the stretes:
for oure ende is come, oure dayes are fulfilled, oure ende is here.
19 Oure persecuters are swifter then the Aegles of the ayre: they folowed vpon
vs ouer the mountaynes, and layed wait for vs in ye wildernesse.
20 The very breth of oure mouth; euen the anoynted LORDE himself shalbe take in
oure synnes, of whom we saye: Vnder his shadowe we shal be preserued amonge the
Heithen.
21 And thou (O doughter
Edom
) that dwellest in the londe of Hus, be glad and reioyce: for the cuppe shal
come vnto the also, which whe thou suppest of, thou shalt be droncke.
22 Thy synne is wel punished (O thou doughter Sion) he shall not suffre the to
be caried awaye eny more. But thy wickednesse (O doughter
Edom
) shall he vyset, and for thy synnes sake, he shal lede the into captiuyte.
Chapter
5
1 Call to remebraunce (O LORDE) what we haue suffred, cosidre and se oure
cofucion.
2 Oure enheritaunce is turned to the straungers, & oure houses to the
aleauntes.
3 We are become carefull and fatherlesse, and oure mothers are as the wydowes.
4 We are fayne to drynke oure owne water for moneye, and oure owne wod must we
bye with moneye.
5 Oure neckes are vnder persecucion, we are weery, and haue no rest.
6 Afore tyme we yelded oure selues to the Egipcians, and now to the Assirians,
only that we might haue bred ynough.
7 Oure fathers (which now are gone) haue synned, & we must beare their
wickednesse.
8 Seruauntes haue the rule of vs, and no man delyuereth vs out of their hodes.
9 We must get or lyuynge with the parell of oure lyues, because of the drouth of
the wildernesse.
10 Oure skynne is as it had bene brent in an ouen, for very sore honger.
11 The wyues are raueshed in Sion, & the maydens in the cities of Iuda.
12 The prynces are hanged vp with the honde of the enemies, they haue not spared
the olde sage men,
13 they haue taken yonge mens lyues from them, and the boyes are hanged vp vpon
trees.
14 The elders syt no more vnder the gates, and the yonge men vse nomore playenge
of Musick.
15 The ioye of oure herte is gone, oure mery quere is turned in to mourninge.
16 The garlande of oure heade is fallen: alas, that euer we synned so sore.
17 Therfore oure hert is full of heuynesse, & oure eyes dymme:
18 because of ye hill of Sion that is destroyed, In so moch, that the foxes
runne vpon it.
19 But thou (O LORDE) that remaynest for euermore, and thy seate worlde with out
ende:
20 Wherfore wilt thou still forget vs, and forsake vs so longe?
21 O LORDE: Turne thou vs vnto the, & so shal we be turned. Renue or daies
as in olde tyme,
22 for thou hast now banished vs longe ynough, and bene sore displeased at vs.
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