3 Judah has gone into exile under affliction and harsh servitude. She dwells among the nations, but has found no rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads of Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she is bitter. 5 Her adversaries have become her masters and they prosper, for the LORD has caused her grief because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her little ones have gone away as captives of the enemy.

6 All her majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture. They flee without strength before the pursuer. 7 In the days of her affliction Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in the old days, before her people fell into enemy hands. There is no one to help her as her enemies looked at her and laughed. 8 Jerusalem sinned greatly and became an unclean thing. All who used to honored her now despise her because they have seen her nakedness. She groans and turns away when she sees herself. 9 Her filthiness is in her skirts, for she has not remembered her previous end. Therefore she has had a terrible fall and her enemy magnifies himself. 10 The adversary has stretched out his hand over all her precious things, and she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, even the ones whom God said must not enter into His congregation.

11 All her people are wishing for bread, being willing to part with their precious things and feeling very despised.

12 "Is it nothing to you to you pass by and see my pain which has been severely dealt to me by the LORD because of His fierce anger?" 13 "He sent fire from on high into my bones, and it has prevailed over them. He has made me desolate and I faint all day long." 14 "He has bound my sins into a yoke to be placed on my neck. The LORD has sapped my strength and handed me over to those I cannot withstand." 15 "The LORD has rejected all my strong men and appointed a time against me to crush them. The LORD has trodden on the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress." 16 "For these things I weep, because my comforter who restores my soul is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed." 17 Zion stretches our her hands with no one to comfort her. The LORD has commanded that some should be Jacob's adversaries. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing.

18 "The LORD is righteous and I have rebelled against the LORD's command. Take notice of my pain and that my young men and women have gone into captivity."

19 "I called to my lovers to discover that they deceived me. My priests and elders perish while they seek food that they may live." 20 "See my distress, O LORD. My spirit is greatly troubled. My rebellion has brought the sword, and death is in my house." 21 "Though my groaning has been heard, there is no one to comfort me. My enemies were glad when they heard of my calamity. I long for the day when their calamity will be like mine." 22 "Let all their wickedness come before You. Deal with them as you have dealt with me. I groan so much and my heart is faint."

Lamentations 2 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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God's Anger At Sin
1 In His anger the LORD has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud. He has cast from heaven to earth the glory of Israel and in His anger He has not remembered His footstool. 2 He has not spared the inhabitants of Jacob. In His wrath He has thrown down to the ground the strongholds of the daughter of Judah and profaned the kingdom and its princes. 3 In fierce anger He has cut off Israel's strength by no longer holding back the enemy. 4 His fury has been poured out like fire by becoming their enemy. 5 He has swollowed up Israel and all its palaces. 6 And He has treated His tabernacle with violence causing it to be forgotten along with its appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His indignation He has despised both king and priest. 7 The LORD has abandoned His alter and His sanctuary, delivering it into the hand of the enemy who has no respect for it.

8 The LORD has decided to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. Rampart and wall languish together. 9 Everything is destroyed. The law is no more and her prophets have no vision from the LORD. 10 The elders in Zion sit on the ground in silence with dust on their heads. They wear sackcloth while the virgins of Jerusalem hang their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are blinded by tears and my spirit is greatly troubled. My heart is poured out as I witness the destruction of my people and see the little ones faint in the streets. 12 They say to their mothers, "Where is some food?"

13 With what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? How can I comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? 14 Your prophets have related false visions to you. They have not exposed your sin that you might be saved from captivity. They have misled you. 15 All who pass by deride you, saying, "Is this the city that was described as the joy of all the earth?" 16 All of your enemies speak against you. They say, "We have swollowed her up! This is the day for which we have waited."

17 The LORD has accomplished what He said He would do by causing your enemy to exalt over your suffering. 18 The heart of the daughter of Zion cried out with a river of tears. She has no relief. 19 "Arise and cry to the LORD at the beginning of the night. Pour out your heart like water before His presence. Beg Him for the life of your little ones who are faint with hunger everywhere you look."

20 "Behold our condition, O LORD. Should women be eating their children? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the LORD?" 21 "Young and old lie in the streets. Young men and young women have fallen by the sword. In the day of your anger You have slaughtered without pity."

22 "As You summon to a feast, so You have summoned my enemies against me on every side. In the day of Your anger no one has escaped."

Lamentations 3 - RWB Paraphrase (66 V)
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Hope In A Midst Of Affliction
1 I have seen affliction because of the rod of the LORD's wrath. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light. 3 Surely He has repeatedly turned His hand against me, 4 causing my flesh to waste away. He has broken my bones, 5 and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape, weighing me down with chains. 8 Though I cry out for help, He does not listen to my prayer. 9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone, and made my paths crooked. 10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding. 11 He dragged me from the path, mangled me and left me desolate without help. 12 He drew his bow and made me the target for His arrows.

13 He pierced my heart with arrows from His quiver. 14 I became the laughing stock of all my people. They mock me in song all day long. 15 I am filled with bitterness and I am drunk with wormwood. 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel, and trampled me in the dust. 17 I am deprived of peace and have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 My strength is gone and so is my hope in the LORD. 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I cannot forget them while my soul is bowed down within me.

21 Yet I do recall this, 22 the LORD's lovingkindness does not cease and His compassions do not fail. 23 They are like the morning. How great is Your faithfulness. 24 My soul says, "The LORD is my portion. I have hope in Him." 25 "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him while seeking Him." 26 "It is good to wait silently for the salvation of the LORD." 27 "It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth." 28 "Let him sit in silence when the yoke has been laid on him." 29 "Let him place his face in the dust, that there may be hope." 30 "Let him allow his cheek to be smitten and let him be filled with reproach." 31 "For the LORD will not reject forever." 32 "If He causes grief, He will also have compassion according to His loving kindness." 33 "He does not willingly afflict the sons of men." 34 "To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land," 35 "to deny a man his rights before the Most High," 36 "to defraud a man in his lawsuit. These things the LORD does not approve of."

37 "Who can speak anything and see it come to pass unless the LORD has commanded it?" 38 "The mouth of the Most High does not speak both good and bad." 39 "How can any mortal man complain when he recognizes his sins?" 40 "Let us consider our ways and return to the LORD." 41 "We lift our hearts and hands toward God in heaven." 42 "We have transgressed and rebelled and You have not pardoned us."

43 "In anger You have pursued us and not spared us from being slain." 44 "You have covered Yourself with a cloud and our prayers do not reach You." 45 "You have made us scum and refuse among the nations." 46 "All our enemies rail against us." 47 "We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction." 48 "I cry many tears because of the destruction of my people." 49 "I cannot stop weeping," 50 "until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees."

51 "My eyes bring pain to my soul because of all the daughters of my city." 52 "My enemies hunt me without cause." 53 "They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me." 54 The waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to die. 55 "From this lowest pit I called to you, O LORD." 56 "You heard me. Please listen to my prayer for relief." 57 You came near when I called You, and You said, "Do not be afraid."

58 "O LORD, You have pleaded my cause and have redeemed my life." 59 "You have seen my oppression. Judge my case." 60 "You have seen all their schemes against me." 61 "You have heard their reproach against me." 62 "I hear their whispering against me all day long." 63 "When they sit or rise up, they sing a mocking song about me." 64 "You will repay them, O LORD, according to what they have done." 65 "You will harden their hearts and curse them." 66 "You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens!"

Lamentations 4 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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God's Anger Is Satisfied
1 How the gold has lost its luster and become dull! The sacred gems of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street. 2 The precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, made by a potter's hands! 3 Even the jackals nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4 The tongue of the infant cleaves to the roof of its mouth because of thirst. The little ones ask for bread, but no one has any to give them. 5 Those used to delicacies are desolate in the streets. Though reared in purple they lie in ash pits. 6 The punishment for the iniquity of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, with no one to help her! 7 Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk, and their bodies were more ruddy than coral. The beauty of their form was like sapphire. 8 Now they appear blacker than soot. They are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones, withered and become like wood. 9 Better to have been slain with the sword than to die of hunger, pining away with nothing to eat. 10 Women ordinarily compassionate boil their own children because of their hunger.

11 The LORD has given full vent to His wrath, having poured out His fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her very foundations. 12 Who would have thought that an enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. 13 This has happened because of the sins of the prophets and priests who shed the blood of the righteous. 14 They blindly wandered the streets defiled with blood so that their garments could not be touched. 15 "Depart! Unclean!" They cried of themselves."Do not touch!" These cannot continue to dwell among us. 16 The presence of the LORD has scattered them. He will have no regard for them. They did not honor the priests, nor favor the elders.

17 "Looking for help is useless. We have watched for a nation that could not be saved." 18 "We could not walk in the streets for they hunted us until our end drew near. Our days were finished." 19 "Our persuers were swift like eagles, chasing us on the mountains, waiting in ambush in the wilderness." 20 The breath of our nostrils, the LORD's anointed, was captured in their pits. We always said, "Under His shadow we shall live among the nations."

21 "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom in the land of Uz. This cup shall come to you and you shall become drunk and strip yourself naked." 22 "The punishment of your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion. He will exile you no longer. But you, O daughter of Edom, He will punish you for your iniquity and expose your sins!"

Lamentations 5 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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Jeremiah Pleads For Restoration
1 Remember what has come upon us, O LORD, and take notice of our reproach! 2 Our inheritance is no longer ours. Strangers and aliens inhabit our houses. 3 We are orphans without a father. Our mothers are like widows. 4 We have to buy the water we drink and purchase the wood we burn. 5 Those who pursue us have us by the neck. We are worn out with no hope of rest. 6 We depend on Egypt and Assyria for our bread. 7 We have born the iniquity of our father's sins.

8 Slaves rule us and there is no one to deliver us. 9 We risk our lives finding our food. 10 The heat of famine causes our skin to burn like an oven.

11 The women of Zion are ravished, even the virgins of Judah. 12 Princes have been hung by their hands, and elders are shown no respect. 13 Young men work at the grinding mill, and youths stumbled under loads of wood. 14 Elders no longer sit at the gate. The young men make no music. 15 The joy of our hearts has ceased and our dancing has turned to mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! 17 Now our heart is faint and our eyes are dim, 18 because Mount Zion lies desolate with foxes prowling about it.

19 "O LORD, You rule forever. Your throne lasts for all generations." 20 "Why do You forsake us for so long?" 21 "Restore us to You, O LORD. Renew us as in days of old," 22 "unless You are very angry with us and have utterly rejected us."

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5