AUGUST 29

Jeremiah's Lamentations_____________

It would be altogether reasonable for Jeremiah to gloat over the fall of Jerusalem. After all, he stood virtually alone in predicting its destruction, and suffered a great deal of persecution as a result. Now that his prophecies have come true, it would be natural enough for him to say, "I told you so!" But that would not be consistent with Jeremiah's character. Like the God he serves, Jeremiah is grieved at the loss of Jerusalem and the scattering of God's people. He is both angry and sad. He is angry at the priests and prophets whose sins made the destruction necessary. He is angry at the nations which have either directly overthrown Judah or failed to come to her rescue. But mostly Jeremiah is sad. This weeping prophet, who so many times lamented his own sufferings, now laments the suffering of his fellow countrymen.

Although its authorship is not specifically indicated, it seems most likely that Jeremiah is the author of a writing known simply as Lamentations. The poem expresses the many mixed feelings which this aging and weary man of God must have. Sometimes he speaks from a personal viewpoint about his own sufferings and persecutions; sometimes he voices the nation's collective horror, grief, confusion, and yet hope. So poignant is this beautiful lament that even to this day it is read by these Hebrews' descendants each year on the anniversary of the temple's destruction. From a literary standpoint alone, the poem is a classic. Far beyond that, however, it is one of the most powerful and moving expressions of human emotions that one will ever read, and it bears a timeless message which is nothing less than sublime.

Lam. 1:1-6

How deserted lies the city,

once so full of people! How like a widow is she,

who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces

has now become a slave.

Bitterly she weeps at night,

tears are upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers

there is none to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

After affliction and harsh labor,

Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations;

she finds no resting place.

All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn,

for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gateways are desolate,

her priests groan, her maidens grieve,

and she is in bitter anguish.

Her foes have become her masters;

her enemies are at ease. The lord has brought her grief

because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile,

captive before the foe.

All the splendor has departed

from the Daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer

that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled

before the pursuer.

Lam. 1:7-11

In the days of her affliction and wandering

Jerusalem remembers all the treasures

that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands,

there was no one to help her. Her enemies looked at her

and laughed at her destruction.

Jerusalem has sinned greatly

and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans

and turns away.

Her filthiness clung to her skirts;

she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding;

there was none to comfort her. "Look, O lord, on my affliction,

for the enemy has triumphed."

The enemy laid hands

on all her treasures; she saw pagan nations

enter her sanctuary— those you had forbidden

to enter your assembly.

All her people groan

as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food

to keep themselves alive. "Look, O lord, and consider, for I am despised."

Lam.1:12-17

"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering

that was inflicted on me, that the lord brought on me

in the day of his fierce anger?

"From on high he sent fire,

sent it down into my bones.

He spread a net for my feet and turned me back.

He made me desolate, faint all the day long.

"My sins have been bound into a yoke;

by his hands they were woven together. They have come upon my neck

and the Lord has sapped my strength. He has handed me over

to those I cannot withstand.

"The Lord has rejected

all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me

to crush my young men. In his winepress the Lord has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah.

"This is why I weep

and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute

because the enemy has prevailed."

Zion stretches out her hands,

but there is no one to comfort her.

The lord has decreed for Jacob

that his neighbors become his foes;

Jerusalem has become

an unclean thing among them.

Lam. 1:18-22

"The lord is righteous,

yet I rebelled against his command. Listen, all you peoples;

look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens

have gone into exile.

"I called to my allies

but they betrayed me. My priests and my elders

perished in the city while they searched for food

to keep themselves alive.

"See, O lord, how distressed I am!

I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed,

for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves;

inside, there is only death.

"People have heard my groaning,

but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my distress;

they rejoice at what you have done. May you bring the day you have announced

so they may become like me.

"Let all their wickedness come before you;

deal with them as you have dealt with me

because of all my sins. My groans are many

and my heart is faint."

Lam.2:1-10

How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger'!

He has hurled down the splendor of Israel

from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

Without pity the Lord has swallowed up

all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down

the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes

down to the ground in dishonor.

In fierce anger he has cut off

every horn.' of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand

at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire

that consumes everything around it.

Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready.

Like a foe he has slain

all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire

on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.

The Lord is like an enemy;

he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces

and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation

for the Daughter of Judah.

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;

he has destroyed his place of meeting. The lord has made Zion forget

her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned

both king and priest.

The Lord has rejected his altar

and abandoned his sanctuary. He has handed over to the enemy

the walls of her palaces; they have raised a shout in the house of the lord

as on the day of an appointed feast.

The lord determined to tear down

the wall around the Daughter of Zion.

He stretched out a measuring line

and did not withhold his hand from destroying.

He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.

Her gates have sunk into the ground;

their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find

visions from the lord.

The elders of the Daughter of Zion

sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads

and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem

have bowed their heads to the ground.

Lam. 2:11-17

My eyes fail from weeping,

I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground

because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint

in the streets of the city.

They say to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?"

as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city,

as their lives ebb away in their mothers' arms.

What can I say for you?

With what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem?

To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion?

Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?

The visions of your prophets were false and worthless;

they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity.

The oracles they gave you were false and misleading.

All who pass your way

clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"

All your enemies open their mouths

wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth

and say, "We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for;

we have lived to see it."

The lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.

Lam. 2:18-22

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.

O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.

Arise, cry out in the night,

as the watches of the night begin;

pour out your heart like water

in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him

for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger

at the head of every street.

"Look, O lord, and consider:

Whom have you ever treated like this?

Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for?

Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

"Young and old lie together

in the dust of the streets; my young men and maidens

have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger;

you have slaughtered them without pity.

"As you summon to a feast day,

so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the lord's anger

no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared,

my enemy has destroyed."