Aramaic Peshitta Bible Repository
Lamsa OT - Lamentations
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1 ¶ HOW does the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is she become like a widow! She that was so great among the nations, and she that was a princess of the cities has become a tributary! 2 She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears run on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies. 3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude; she dwells among the Gentiles, she finds no rest; all her pursuers overtook her in the midst of her affliction. 4 The ways of Zion mourn because none come to the solemn feasts; all her gates are desolate; her priests sigh, her virgins are humbled? and she is in bitterness. 5 Her oppressors have become her rulers, and her adversaries have made an end of her; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her sins; her children are gone into captivity before the oppressor. 6 And from the daughter of Zion all her splendor is departed; her princes have become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. 7 Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her chastisement all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the oppressor and she had none to help her, her oppressors saw her, and mocked at her destruction. 8 Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become an abomination; all who honored her, despise her, because they see her nakedness; yea, she sighs and turns backward. 9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she was not mindful of her end; therefore her glory is low; she has no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction; for the enemy has magnified himself. 10 The oppressor has stretched out his hands upon all her pleasant things; for I have seen the Gentiles violate thy sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation. 11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their precious things for food to relieve their soul; see, O LORD, and consider; for I am despised.""
12 ¶ Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Understand, and see if there is any pain like my pain, which the LORD has dealt to me; for the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. 13 From above he sent fire into my bones, and it has brought me low; he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back; he has delivered me to the sword and I am miserable all the day. 14 My sins have wrought vengeance upon me; his yokes are bound by his hands upon my neck; my strength has failed; the LORD has delivered me into the hands of those before whom I cannot stand. 15 The LORD has brought into subjection all my mighty men in the midst of me; he has called an assembly against me to destroy my young men; the LORD has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. 16 For these things I weep; my eyes run down with tears, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me; my children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed. 17 Zion stretches out her hands, and there is none to comfort her; the LORD has given commands against Jacob, and his oppressors are round about him; Jerusalem has become loathsome among them. 18 The LORD is righteous; and I have rebelled against him; hear, all you peoples, and behold my grief; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. 19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and my elders perished in the city; they searched for food to relieve their souls, but they found it not. 20 Behold, O LORD, I am in distress; my soul is troubled, my heart is in pain; for I have grievously rebelled; outside the sword devours, and those who are in the house death consumes. 21 They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me; all my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it; hasten thou the day that thou hast announced, the enemy shall become like me. 22 Let all their wickedness come before thee; harass them, as thou hast harassed me for all my transgressions; for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.""
2:1 ¶ HOW has the LORD in his anger covered the daughter of Zion with a thick cloud I and cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, and has not remembered his footstool in the day of his wrath! 2 The LORD has drowned without pity all the habitations of Jacob, he has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground her slain men, her kings, and her princes. 3 He has cut off in his fierce anger all the strength of Israel; he has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy and has kindled a fire in the land of Jacob, and the flaming fire has consumed mightily round about. 4 He has bent his bow like an oppressor; he has raised his hand like an enemy, and has slain all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire. 5 The LORD has become as an enemy; he has drowned Israel, he has destroyed all her palaces; he has made havoc in all her provinces, and has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. 6 And he has thrown down his tabernacle like a shed in a garden; he has destroyed the places of his festivals; the LORD has caused the solemn feasts and the sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, and has rejected in the indignation of his anger kings and priests. 7 The LORD has forgotten his sanctuary, he has despised his altar, he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a shout in the house of the LORD, as on a day of a solemn feast. 8 The LORD has purposed to destroy the walls of the daughter of Zion; he has stretched out a line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying her; therefore he has caused her forces to sit in mourning; her walls have become completely desolate. 9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars; her kings and her princes are among the Gentiles; the law is no more; her prophets also find no visions from the LORD.""
10 ¶ The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground and keep silence; they have cast dust on their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. 11 My eyes are dimmed with tears, my soul is disturbed, my pride is low to the ground, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the little children and the babes faint in the streets of the city. 12 They say to their mothers, Where is wheat and wine and butter? when they faint like the slain in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mother’s bosom. 13 What thing shall I testify for you, and to whom shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? Whom can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea; who can stop it? 14 Your prophets have seen false and deceptive visions for you; and they have not revealed to you anything of your sins, that you might repent and I should bring you back from captivity; but have seen for you false and deceptive prophecies. 15 All who pass by the road clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city which men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? 16 The LORD has done that which he had devised; he has fulfilled his word as he had commanded in the days of old; he has thrown her down without pity, he has caused your enemies to rejoice over you, he has given might to your oppressors. 17 All your enemies speak evil against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth; they say, We have devoured her; certainly this is the day we looked for; we have found it, we have seen it. 18 The people’s heart cried to the LORD of the walls of the daughter of Zion; let your tears run down like a stream day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eye cease from shedding tears. 19 Arise, offer praise in the night at the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the presence of the LORD; lift up your hands toward him for the lives of your little children who faint for hunger at the head of every street. 20 See, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done thus? Shall the women eat their offspring, and the children be prostrated by famine? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the LORD? 21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast slaughtered without pity. 22 Thou hast called as to a festival day my adversaries round about me, so that in the day of the LORD’S anger none escaped or survived; those that I have carried on my arms and brought up, my enemies have consumed.""
3:1 ¶ O MIGHTY God, see my affliction; I am chastised by the rod of his wrath. 2 He has led me, but I walked in darkness and not in light. 3 But surely is he turned against me, he turns his hand against me all the day. 4 My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones. 5 He has built ramparts against me, and compassed me with bitterness and travail. 6 He has made me to dwell in darkness, like a dead man for ever. 7 He has hedged me about, that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy. 8 Though I beseech and pray, he does not hearken to my prayer. 9 He has enclosed my ways with thorns, he has made my paths crooked. 10 He has been to me as a wolf lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. 11 He has made my ways crooked, and cut me to pieces; he has made me desolate. 12 He has bent his bow, and set me up as a mark for the arrow. 13 Behold, he has caused his arrows to enter into my reins. 14 I have become the ridicule of all nations; and their scoffing song all the day. 15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunken with wormwood. 16 He has broken my teeth with a stone, he has covered me with ashes. 17 My soul has gone astray from peace, I have forgotten prosperity. 18 And I said, My fame and my hope are perished from the LORD. 19 Remember my affliction and my chastisement, the bitterness and the sorrow. 20 Remember and restore my life.""
21 ¶ This I recall to mind; therefore I have hope in God. 22 Surely the kindness of the LORD never ceases and his mercies never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in him. 25 The LORD is good to him who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him. 26 It is good for a man that he should hope for both the truth and the salvation of the LORD. 27 It is good for a man that he bear thy yoke in his youth. 28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid thy yoke upon him. 29 Let him humble himself, for there is hope. 30 Let him turn his cheek to him that smites him; let him be filled with reproach. 31 For the LORD will not forget for ever. 32 But though he cause affliction, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. 33 For he does not afflict willingly, but he afflicts the children of the mighty men, 34 To subdue under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, 35 To turn aside the right of a man toward the face of the Most High. 36 To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD does not approve.""
37 ¶ Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the LORD has not commanded it? 38 Out of the mouth of the Most High evil and good do not come. 39 Therefore, why should a living man question concerning punishment for his sins? 40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. 41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in heaven.""
42 ¶ We have transgressed and rebelled; and thou hast not pardoned. 43 Thou hast covered us with thy anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. 44 Thou hast covered thyself with thy cloud; thou hast let our prayer pass by. 45 Thou hast made us uprooted and despised among the peoples. 46 My eyes run down with tears and do not cease, because there is no comforter, 47 Till the LORD look down and behold from heaven. 48 My eyes are worn with tears because of the destruction of all the daughters of the cities of my people. 49 All our enemies speak evil against us. 50 Fear and trembling have come upon us, a snare and destruction. 51 I wept vehemently over the destruction of the daughter of my people. 52 My enemies have hunted me like a bird, without cause. 53 They have cut off my life in a pit; they cast stones at me. 54 Water flowed over my head; then I said, I am cast far off.""
55 ¶ I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the depths of the pit. 56 Thou didst hear my voice; turn not thine ear to my cry; but relieve me and save me. 57 Thou didst draw near in the day when I called upon thee; thou didst say, Fear not. 58 O LORD, thou hast pleaded my cause; thou hast saved my life. 59 O LORD, thou hast seen my affliction; thou hast judged my cause. 60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. 61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and their devices against me, 62 The lips of those who rose up against me and their devices against me all day long. 63 Behold their conduct and their behavior I do understand, because of their devices. 64 Render to them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. 65 Give them sorrow of heart; let thy affliction pursue them. 66 Destroy them in thine anger from under thy heavens, O LORD.""
4:1 ¶ HOW is the fine gold rejected! how is the lovely color faded! the stones of the sanctuary are thrown down at the head of every street. 2 The precious sons of Zion, who were better than precious stones, how are they esteemed as earthen pots, the work of the hands of the potter! 3 The women uncover their breasts like jackals, they give suck to their young ones; the daughters of my people have become like wounds that cannot be healed and like ostriches in the wilderness. 4 The tongue of the suckling child cleaves to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the children ask bread, but no one breaks the loaf and gives it to them. 5 Those that fed on delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in scarlet sleep in dunghills. 6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands were weary in destroying it. 7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; their cheeks were more ruddy than rubies, and their form more beautiful than sapphires. 8 But now their visage is blacker than charcoal; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin is shriveled on their bones; it has dried up and it has become like a stick. 9 Those who were slain by the sword are better than those who are slain with hunger; for these pine away, like those who are wounded and thrown in the field. 10 The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 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. 12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor all the inhabitants of the world, that the enemy and the oppressor could come and enter into the gates of Jerusalem.""
13 ¶ It happened for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous. 14 Her princes wander in her streets, they wallow in blood, so that no one could touch their garments. 15 Separate yourselves from them, call them unclean; depart, depart, do not touch them; for they have caused provocations and are troubled; among the Gentiles the people said, They shall no more sojourn there. 16 Our eyes have become dull waiting for help; our watchmen have watched in vain for a nation that could not save. 17 The presence of the LORD has divided them; he will no more regard them; they did not respect the persons of priests, they did not have compassion on the elders. 18 They hunt for the little people and for those who walk in the streets; our end is near, our days are finished, for our time is come. 19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the air; they chased us upon the mountains, they laid in wait for us in the wilderness. 20 Our very spirit, 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 ¶ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom that dwells in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass to you; you shall become drunken you shall be harassed. 22 Your iniquities have come to an end, O daughter of Zion; God will no more carry you away into captivity; but your iniquities will be punished, O daughter of Edom; your sins are well uncovered.""
5:1 ¶ REMEMBER, O LORD, what has come upon us; behold, and see our reproach. 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3 We have become orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold to us. 5 Our necks are under yokes; we labor, and have no rest. 6 The Egyptians gave a helping hand, and we looked to the Assyrians to provide bread. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are no more; and we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hands. 9 We get our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. 10 Our skin has shriveled as though burned in an oven because of the suffering of famine. 11 Women are ravished in Zion, and virgins in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hanged up by their hands; the faces of the elders are not honored. 13 The young men grind the mill, and the youths stumble under loads of wood. 14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their joy. 15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!""
17 ¶ For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. 18 Because mount Zion is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. 19 But thou, O LORD, dost endure for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. 20 Therefore do not forget us for ever, nor forsake us for so long a time. 21 Bring us back to thee, O LORD, and we shall be restored; renew our days as of old. 22 For thou hast utterly rejected us; thou hast been exceedingly angry against us."