Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. For the next two days, we're going
to be reading the book of Lamentations, also
known as the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Today,
we'll be reading Lamentations chapters 1 and
2. Chapter 1. How lonely sits the city that was
full of people. How like a widow is she who was
great among the nations. The princess among the
provinces has become a slave. she weeps bitterly
in the night her tears are 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 judah has gone into
captivity under affliction and hard servitude
she dwells among the nations she finds no rest
all her persecutors overtake her in dire straits
the roads to zion mourn because no one comes
to the set feasts All her gates are desolate,
her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted,
and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries have
become the master, her enemies prosper. For the
Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude
of her transgressions. Her children have gone
into captivity before the enemy. And from the
daughter of Zion all her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer that find no
pasture, that flee without strength before the
pursuer. In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things that
she had in the days of old. When her people fell
into the hand of the enemy, with no one to help
her, the adversaries saw her and mocked at her
downfall. Jerusalem has sinned gravely, therefore
she has become vile. All who honored her despise
her because they have seen her nakedness. Yes,
she sighs and turns away. Her uncleanness is
in her skirts. She did not consider her destiny.
Therefore her collapse was awesome. She had no
comforter. O Lord, behold my affliction, for
the enemy is exalted. The adversary has spread
his hand over all her pleasant things, for she
has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those
whom you commanded not to enter your assembly.
All her people sigh. They seek bread. They have
given their valuables for food to restore life.
See, O Lord, and consider, for I am scorned.
Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold
and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which has been brought on me, which the Lord
has inflicted in a day of his fierce anger. From
above he has sent fire into my bones, and it
overpowered them. He has spread a net for my
feet and turned me back. He has made me desolate
and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions
was bound. They were woven together by his hands
and thrust upon my neck. He made my strength
fail. The Lord delivered me into the hands of
those whom I am not able to withstand. The Lord
has trampled underfoot all my mighty men. In
my midst he has called an assembly against me
to crush my young men. The Lord trampled, as
in a winepress, the virgin daughter of Judah.
For these things I weep, my eye overflows with
water. Because the Comforter, who should restore
my life, is far from me. My children are desolate,
because the enemy prevailed. Zion spreads out
her hands, but no one comforts her. The Lord
has commanded concerning Jacob that those around
him become his adversaries. Jerusalem has become
an unclean thing among them. The Lord is righteous,
for I rebelled against his commandment. Hear
now, all peoples, and behold my sorrow. My virgins
and my young men have gone into captivity. I
called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My
priests and my elders breathed their last in
the city, while they sought food to restore their
life. See, O Lord, that I am in distress. My
soul is troubled, my heart is overturned within
me, for I have been very rebellious. Outside
the sword bereaves, at home it is like death.
They have heard that I sigh, but no one comforts
me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble,
they are glad that you have done it. Bring on
the day you have announced, that they may become
like me. Let all their wickedness come before
you, and do to them as you have done to me. For
all my transgressions, for my sighs are many,
and my heart is faint. Chapter 2 How the Lord
has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud
in his anger. He cast down from heaven to the
earth the beauty of Israel, and did not remember
his footstool in the day of his anger. The Lord
has swallowed up and has not pitied all the dwelling
places of Jacob. He has thrown down in his wrath
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He
has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned
the kingdom and its princes. He has cut off in
fierce anger every horn of Israel. He has drawn
back his mighty hand from before the enemy. He
has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
devouring all around. Standing like an enemy,
he has bent his bow with his right hand like
an adversary. He has slain all who were pleasing
to his eye. On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
he has poured out his fury like fire. The Lord
was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed
her strongholds and has increased mourning and
lamentation in the daughter of Judah. He has
done violence to his tabernacle as it were a
garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly.
The Lord has caused the appointed feasts and
Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In his burning
indignation, he has spurned the king and the
priest. The Lord has spurned his altar. He has
abandoned his sanctuary. He has given up the
walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy.
They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
as on the day of a set feast. The Lord has purposed
to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has stretched out a line. He has not withdrawn
his hand from destroying. Therefore he has caused
the rampart and wall to lament. They languished
together. Her gates have sunk into the ground.
He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king
and her princes are among the nations. The law
is no more, and her prophets find no vision from
the Lord. The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground and keep silence. They throw
dust on their heads and gird themselves with
sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem bow their
heads to the ground. My eyes fail with tears,
my heart is troubled. My bile is poured on the
ground because of the destruction of the daughter
of my people, because the children and the infants
faint in the streets of the city. They say to
their mothers, where is grain and wine? as they
swoon like the wounded in the streets of the
city, as their life is poured out in their mother's
bosom. How shall I console you? To what shall
I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall
I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O
virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is spread
wide as the sea. Who can heal you? Your prophets
have seen for you. false and deceptive visions.
They have not uncovered your iniquity to bring
back your captives, but have envisioned for you
false prophecies and delusions. All who pass
by clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake
their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. In
this city that is called the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth, all your enemies
have opened their mouth against you. They hiss
and gnash their teeth. They say, we have swallowed
her up. Surely this is the day we have waited
for, we have found it, we have seen it. The Lord
has done what he purposed, he has fulfilled his
word, which he commanded in days of old. He has
thrown down and has not pitied, and he has caused
an enemy to rejoice over you, he has exalted
the horn of your adversaries. Their heart cried
out to the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears run down like a river day and night,
give yourself no relief. Give your eyes no rest.
Arise, cry out in the night. At the beginning
of the watches, pour out your heart like water
before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands
toward him. For the life of young children who
faint from hunger at the head of every street.
See, O Lord, and consider, to whom have you done
this? Should the women eat their offspring, the
children they have cuddled? Should the priest
and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the
Lord? Young and old lie on the ground in the
streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen
by the sword. You have slain them in the day
of your anger. You have slaughtered and not pitied.
You have invited as to a feast day the terrors
that surround me. In the day of the Lord's anger,
there was no refugee or survivor. Those whom
I have born and brought up, my enemies have destroyed.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as
I did and I look forward to seeing you again
tomorrow to continue on our journey. God bless
you and have a great day.