O that they were wise, {that} they understood this, {that} they would consider their latter end!

And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: {so} that thou didst not lay these {things} to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

Zion spreadeth forth her hands, {and there is} none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, {that} his adversaries {should be} round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of {such as were} oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors {there was} power; but they had no comforter. {side: Heb. hand}

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified {themselves} against the people of the LORD of hosts.

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings {are} against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for {your} pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.

RESH. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law.

Make ye him drunken: for he magnified {himself} against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. {secret...: Heb. digging}

Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted {thy} voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? {even} against the Holy One of Israel.

They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. {destroy: Heb. break}

Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

How doth the city sit solitary, {that was} full of people! {how} is she become as a widow! she {that was} great among the nations, {and} princess among the provinces, {how} is she become tributary!

And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, {and} thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when {shall it} once {be}? {when...: Heb. after when yet?}

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. {comfortably: or, friendly: Heb. to her heart}

It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up {thy} prayer for the remnant that is left. {left: Heb. found}

For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, {that it was} very bitter: for {there was} not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.

It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day. {affliction: or, tears: Heb. eye}

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. {trouble: Heb. weariness} {that...: Heb. that hath found us}

For the time {is come} that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if {it} first {begin} at us, what shall the end {be} of them that obey not the gospel of God?

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, {and} not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

They have heard that I sigh: {there is} none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done {it}: thou wilt bring the day {that} thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me. {called: or, proclaimed}

Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, {and} lest they should say, Our hand {is} high, and the LORD hath not done all this. {Our...: or, Our high hand, and not the LORD hath done}

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love {to have it} so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? {bear...: or, take into their hands}

Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; {lest} they exalt themselves. Selah. {lest...: or, let them not be exalted}

Neither shall {men} tear {themselves} for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall {men} give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. {tear...: or, break bread for them}

And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.

How is the gold become dim! {how} is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:

Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach {is} great like the sea: who can heal thee?

Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. {comfortably: Heb. to the heart} {warfare: or, appointed time}

Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. {a man...: Heb. seed of men}

And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which {are} in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

She hath wearied {herself} with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum {shall be} in the fire.

And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of {such as were} oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors {there was} power; but they had no comforter. {side: Heb. hand}

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: {decked: Gr. gilded}

Zion spreadeth forth her hands, {and there is} none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, {that} his adversaries {should be} round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears {are} on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort {her}: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

And thou shalt be brought down, {and} shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. {whisper: Heb. peep, or, chirp}

Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, {even} great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile. {to...: or, to make the soul to come again}

For these {things} I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed. {relieve: Heb. bring back}

Behold, O LORD; for I {am} in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home {there is} as death.

Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love {to have it} so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? {bear...: or, take into their hands}

Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, {and} lest they should say, Our hand {is} high, and the LORD hath not done all this. {Our...: or, Our high hand, and not the LORD hath done}

O that they were wise, {that} they understood this, {that} they would consider their latter end!

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble {which I suffer} of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, {having} sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

These two {things} are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? {are...: Heb. happened} {destruction: Heb. breaking}