Old Testament

For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:

Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. ReflectionThis verse expresses the deep sorrow and weariness of the people of Israel after enduring suffering, exile, and loss. The “faint heart” speaks to emotional and spiritual exhaustion, while “eyes are dim” conveys grief, tears, and a blurred vision caused by prolonged […]

Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. ReflectionThis verse expresses the profound grief and suffering of the people of Jerusalem following the destruction of the city. The imagery of being “orphans and fatherless” and mothers “as widows” conveys a sense of total loss, vulnerability, and social disintegration. Lamentations captures the emotional and […]

We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.