JEREMIAH'S' PROPHECY. MORE THAN 600 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST.
Juda hath removed her dwelling-place because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage. She hath dwelled among the nations, and she hath found no rest; all her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits. The ways of Sion mourn because there are none that come to the feasts, all her gates are broken down, her priests sigh, her virgins are in affliction, and she is oppressed with bitterness.
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she become unstable, all that honored her have despised her, because they have seen her shame. O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long, the Lord hath trodden Gethsemane for the virgin-daughter of Juda. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water, because the Comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to comfort me; all my enemies have heard of my evil, they have rejoiced that thou hast done it.
How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Sion in his wrath, how hath he cast down from heaven to earth the glorious One of Israel, and hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the Horn of Israel, and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion. To what shall I compare thee, or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem, to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O Virgin daughter of Sion, for great as a sea is thy destruction, who shall heal thee ?
I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long, He hath filled me with bitterness; he hath inebriated me with wormwood, and he hath broken my teeth one by one; he hath fed me with ashes. And my soul is removed far oft' from peace, I have for gotten good things. And I said, My end and my hope is perished from the Lord. Remember my poverty and transgression, the wormwood and gall.
He gave his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me. For the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests that have shed the blood of the Just in the midst of her. They have wandered like blind men in the streets, they were defiled with blood. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins, to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles." (Lamentations Passim.)
