THE LAMENTATIONS OF IEREMY.
Aleph. 1 HOw is the city dwelt solitary vvhich vvas full of people; She is become a very widdow. The great among nations, the prince among countreys is becomeIehoiakim was caryed to Babel, in the first of Nabu: & Daniel, Ananias, Misael, & Azaria [...] with other yong nobles. Da. 1. And Iehoiakim was suffred to returne to his Kingdome: being made a servant tributarie to the King of Babel. tributary.
Beth. 2 She weepeth sore all theAffliction is night. as Es. 21. Three yeares Iehoiakim served the K. of Babel. That time was night: Three yeres he was vexed with forces of Chaldeans Syrians Moabites Ammonites. And that was a darker night. night: Her teares trickle vpon her cheeks: She hath no comforter of all her Lovers: all herEgypt and Tyrus & other near nations, which afterwards resisted Babel 35. yeres. yet they left Ierusalem to be taken of Nabuchadnezar after a small siege. friends deale vnfaithfully with her: They are become her enemies.
[Page 10] Gimel. 3. IudahIn th' eight of Nab: with K. Iechonias & Mar dochai then a childe, & Ezekiel, & many who thē saw Salomons temple, & Lived till Aggei asked them, of it & Zorobabels▪ Ag. 2. And many thousands: all saving the poore. And againe when the remnant is captived, after full bondage & sorow. Besides in the Booke of Ester Letters went into 127 countreyes against the Iewes, & againe for them. And the Chaldean scattered thē not: wherfore we must vnderstand that many beleeving their conntrey should become vnder Babel fled into other coutreyes. And of them might they bee who made the synagoges in Corinth & Rome. leaveth countrey after affliction & much bondage. She dvvelleth among the heathen: She findeth no rest: all that pursue her overtake her in the straites.
Daleth. 4. The wayes of Sion mourne, because none come to the feastes: all her gates be desolate; her sacrificersThey sighed not for killing the prophets but for the punishment. sigh: her virgines sorow, & she feeleth bitternes.
He. 5 Her aduersaries are the chief: her enemies prosper: because the Eternal hath made her sorowfull, for her great trespases: Her infantsAs Mardochai: who was actiue in Esthers dayes: Ester. 10. & was caried to Babel 62. yeres afore Babel fell. So he must liue 85. at the least; though he were [...]ived, in his cradle. go to captivity, before the adversarie.
Chap. I.
Vau. 6 And from theAll settled comon weales are called daughters in the Scripture; as Daughter Babel, ps. 137. So Rome is pictured a woman Apo. 17 daughter Sion all her gayness is departed: her Princes are like hartes which finde no pasture, and goe voyd of all strength before the pursuer.
Zain. 7 Ierusalē remembreth in the dayes of her affliction and vexation, all the pretious thinges that she had in the old time: vvhen the People hath fallen by the hand of the Enemy: and she hath no helper: her adversaries behold her, & Laugh at herThis prophecieth how in Babel they will mourne for desire vnto their feastes: which in their Land they would not keep aright And the Chaldeans will skoph their Sabbatismes, as did long after Horace, Ovid, and other Poets. & Tully too: Deserving to haue his head cut off and his tongue pricked, as he had. The ps. 137. commenteth vpon this verse. Sabbatismes.
Cheth. 8 Ierusalē hath sinned grevously: therfore came she into [...] Nydah. Such vncertainty of place as Cain had Gen. 4. wandring from place to place. [...] expresseth of purpose this word, 1 Cor. 4. 11. dispersiō: all that honoured her contemne her: because they haue seene her shame: also she sigheth [Page 12] & turneth her self backwardes.
Teth. 9 HerIer. Ch. 2. hādleth this at large. The trope meaneth Idolatry. vncleanes is vpon her skirtes. She remembreth notDeu. 32. O that they were wise, & would remember their last end. Moses spake of this age. her last end: Hovv she is vvonderfully brought downe, she hath no comforter. O Eternal see my affliction: because the enemy is mightie.
Iod. 10 The aduersary layeth his hand vpon all her [...] Apoc. 18. pretious thinges: vvhen she seeth the nations come into her temple: of whome thou hast commaunded: They should not come into thyThat is: They shall beare no office in thy comon weale. they are Ammonites and Moabites. Deut. 23. 3. they come now even into the Temple where onely the Levites should come. congregation.
Caph. 11 All her People sigh, seeking for [Page 13] bread: they give theyr pretious thinges for This speach is a prophecie of the famine that should befall the city, in the last siege: which began in the ninth of Sedekias. Then Nab; compassed the city with siege, vntil the Eleventh yere; when the famine was exceeding great, & the People of the Land had no meat. 2. K. 25. 1. Though two captiuities were past, & none were left but a remnant of poore, & Ezekiel in captivity prophecyed that Sedekias and his companie should come after the former, & Ieremie still in Ierusalem commented in Sermons vpon his Lamentations, all this moved not Sedekias & his nobles. For they knew not the Kingdome of Christ: that it was for the world to come; & knew that an Eternall throne was promised vnto David. 2. Sam. 7. & 1. Chro. 17. So still they made their belly their God. Phil. 3. And to this day the Thalmudiques say; in R. Moses Ben Mamony Tom. 1. tractat. Poenitentia: Perek or section. 9. All the good thinges vvhich the prophets prophecied vnto Israel: they are onely body thinges, vvherein the body shalbe benefited in the dayes of Messias; vvhen the Kingdome shalbe restored to Israel. Moses foretold Deut. 32. that when they became fat, grosse, and burly, they would forget God that made them, & contemne the rock of their Saluation. And Esay Ch. 6. recordeth that to haue come to passe: & Rambam tract. poenit. recordeth the sinne there to be sin against the holy Ghost: wherein God would never give repentance. As they could not repent: to give ever at the siege: but they dreamed still that Egypt would help; but Ieremy Lamenteth that their folly: So for the second destruction, they beleeved not the Angel Dan. 9. that telleth againe and againe that their city should haue a final destruction. But when S. Stephen, act. 6 & 7. told the same, & had in his faco like the Angels brightnes, they stopped their eares: & would neither hear nor see. And who would haue thought that Saraias the high Sacrificer, & father of good Esra should conspire with the rest to damne Ieremy for a false prophet, because he told of Ruine to the temple, & implements: & of the New Testament. But man sold into sin cannot see, where God openeth not the eyes. And here the spirit teacheth the Godly to grone with sighinges vnspeakable. meat to keep in life. See ô Eternall, & consider how contemptible I am become.
[Page 14] Lamed. Daniell full of grace honoureth this verse ch. 9. thus: It hath not ben done vnder all the heaven as it hath bene done to Ierusalem. 12 This hath not befallen you, ô all that passe by the way. Consider yee, & see yf ther be any sadnes like my sadnes, which is caused vnto me; where the Eternall hath caused sorow, in the day of his hoat anger.
Mem. 13 From an high he hath sent fier into myThe cities of Iuda brent by the Chaldeans. bones, and made it prevaile: he hath spread a net to my feet: he hath turned me backward, he hath made me desolate, sick, all the day.
[Page 15] Nun. 14 TheThe yoke of the Law was given to teach how sinne abounded. So seing they humbled not themselves before God, to walk better in his holy covenant, all the curses written in the Lawes of Moses came vpon them: when from the yoke of the Law, which these fathers could not bear, they yoke of their trespasses galled the neck. When Dan. Ch. 9. confessed this much: the angel Gabriel teacheth him of the easie yoke of Christ, named so: Math. xj. And that oration of the Angel Gabriel is no lesse to the old Testament then the sun is to the sky. yoke of my trespasses hath made an impression by his hand: they plat [...]. s. Paul expoundeth this strange Ebrew with as strange Greek: [...]: Eb. 12. Sin that cunningly wrappeth about. And this he meaneth that the glorious wisdome of Moses Law, which standeth for the marrow, still, but not for the outward, Sabbat, circumcision Tabernacle, & other rites of Levy, this blinded them, who would not looke vnto Christ the end of the Law; that God from the Law plagued them, & made the Law, held as their table, to be their trappe: Seing they would not enter into the rest of Christ: where baptisme, and the Lordes supper are no burden. S. Paul calling the Ebrewes being in the Errour of Sedekias times vnto Ieremies Lamentations, closly warneth by the former destruction, a second as a deluge: when the Apostles preaching hath had forty yeres as Ieremies when Sedekias & his went into the wildernes of the heathen. The Thalmudiques traditiōs to this day, are their sinnes, platting themselves as the boughes of a tree, or the Nerves of the Elephants coddes. Iob 40. 17. Whence Ieremy borowed his word, which S. Paul gaue to Gracia. themselves; they go over myNeck signifieth as in Abak., 3. the highest townes of state. when Iosuah conquered Chanaan. Such was Ierusalem to Ieremies dayes & S. Paules. neck; he hath beaten downe my strength: The Lord hath given me into their handes before whome I cannot stand.
[Page 16] Samech. 15 The Lord hath troden downe all myWhē Nah: caryed away all the men of warre, & all the nobles, & Iewellers, in his eight yere 2. K. 34. valiant, within me; he hath called anWhen the Kings of the earth assisted Nab: to be siege Ierusalem; Craaesus King of Lydia might well be one of them. Old Herodotus noteth his familiarity with the King of Babel. God would haue Kings to know Ierusalems fall by Babel, that when they should hear of Babels house of Nemrod fallen, by Iapheth and Sem, & proclamation to send home the Iewes by subsidy of 120 nations; they might listen when God in Christ would pity the world for that liberality to his people. assembly against me, to breake my yonge men; the Lord hath troden the winepresse, to the virgin daughter Iudah.
Ain. 16 Therfore do I weepe; mine eye mine ey gussheth out of water; for cōforter is far from me, that should keep in my life; my children are desolate because the enemy is the stronger.
[Page 17] Pe. 17 Sion spreadeth the handes, she findeth no comforter; The Eternall hath given charge concerning Iacob, to his enemies round about him; Ierusalem is become a mēstruous woman amōg them.
Sade. 18 TheDā. Ch. 9. expreseth this whole sentēce. Eternall is iust. For I haue rebelled against his mouth. Heare now all ye people & see my sadnes. My virgins & my yōg mē are gone into captivity.
Coph. 19 I called vpon myEgyptiās, Ezek. 29. resisted Babel, as well as Iuda: But promising help they durst not performe it. As in many places Ezekiel telleth, 30. & 31. & moo. Also though wee have no record of confederacy betwixt Iudah & other Enemies to Babel, reason telleth that all of one danger at the first, ioyned League: These were confederate with Egypt, Ezek. 30. Cush, Put & Lud, & all Arabia, & Cub or Barbaria. These, as haters of Ierusalem partly for feare of Nabuchadnezars greatnes, partly of hatred to Gods trueth, for sake Ierusalem, while Nab: besiegeth Sedekias: Ezekiel Ch. 29. & 30. prophecieth against them. Lovers; & they haue deceaved me; My sacrificers & my Elders yeeld vp the ghost in the citie, when they seeke them meat to keepe in their life.
Resh. 20 See ô Eternall how I am in [Page 18] distresse. My bovvels areIob. 16. 16. disquieted, & my hart is turned vvithin me, because I have stubburnelie rebelled.Deu. 32. They shalbe brent with hunger & eatē vp with burning, & bitter destruction. without, the sword shall robbe: within shalbe fear. S. Paul 2. Cor. 7. 5. calleth Moses & Ieremy both into minde: saying: when we came into Macedonia my flesh had no rest: vve vvere alvvayes in distresse, vvithout vvas fighting, vvithin vvas feare: Thus divinely honoureth he the songes of Moses and Ieremy: as having tbeir wordes still before him, ioyning Moses prophecy with Ieremyes story: & shewing how the Apostles were vexed in the world, as Ierusalem of the Chaldeans. VVithout the sword doth robbe, within is death it self.
Schin. 21 They have heard how I sigh, having no comforter; all my enemies haue heard my evel;Namely Tyrus, reproved of Ezechiel for ioyance at the fall of [...]erusalem: which Tyrus is there told of ruine. Many yeares it was besieged of Nab: & taken at the last. Other nations vntaken yet, but told Ier. 25. that they should serve Babel, they also hated Iudah; concerning whome this prophecy is vttered. they reioyce at thy doing. Thou bringest a day which thou hast proclaymed, thatNamely Tyrus, reproved of Ezechiel for ioyance at the fall of [...]erusalem: which Tyrus is there told of ruine. Many yeares it was besieged of Nab: & taken at the last. Other nations vntaken yet, but told Ier. 25. that they should serve Babel, they also hated Iudah; concerning whome this prophecy is vttered. they shalbe as I am.
[Page 19] Tau. 22 Let allThe first Alphabet row is ended in the prophecy of ending the wicked Kingdomes which should be brought vnder Babels yoke: to shew that all these troubles are in Gods providence setled in most exquisite order for his iudgments. their evell come before thee; and do vnto them as thou hast done vnto me for all my trespasses. For my sighings be many & my hart is sick.
Chap. 2.
Aleph. 1 HOw hath theFoure Hebrew names of God are onely vsed in this book: Iehovah, the Eternal, in ech Chapter: & is accompanied with Adonaj: Abrahams stay, with a note of trinity: (Gen. 15.) Lam. Ch. 1. 2, 3. And in the third also, with El: Mighty, & once in a most fit argument; & with [...] The most HIGH, twise; wherin Ieremy complayneth against the high states of Iudah, vnto one whome they felt higher & mightier. In the fourth and fift, Iehovah: Performer of promise from Eternall purpose, onely is vsed Elohim the exact mighty iudge, only vsed Gen. 1. & elswhere most vsuall in story, is not at all in this book: where the prophet sheweth how God in will remember mercy▪ to make the Iewes in Babell a golden state: & not enter into iudgement to consume them. A translater, vnmindefull of fit English for ech, will blinde his reader. Lord beclouded in his anger the daughter Sion; he hath cast downe from heaven to the earth the fayreness of Israel: and remembreth not his footstoole in the day of his anger.
[Page 20] Beth. 2 The Lord hathEb. swallowed, & vsed as here, Iob. 2. overwhelmed, nothing sparing, all the dwellings of Iacob: he hathDeut. 28. & Amos terme of Davids tabernacle Ch. 9. is here. broken downe in his vvrath the fortes of the daughter Iudah: He hathEs. 25. brought vnto the ground, He hath madePs. 89. where the whole psalme handleth this matter: that Salomons kingdome was but vanitie: & that of Messias is in heaven. a riddance of the kingdome, & of the Princes.
Gimel. 3 He hath broken in his hoat anger all thePs. 75, 12. horne of Israel: He hath turned back his rightPs. 89. hād from the enemy: and he hath kindledDeut. 33. in Iacob a flaming fier which eateth vp round about.
Daleth. 4 He hath bent his bow as an enemy: he hath settled his right hand as an adversarie: he hath killed all the pleasant to the eye, in the tent of the daughter Siō: [Page 21] he hath powred out his heath as fier.
Heh. 5 The Lord is become a very enemy: he hath overwhelmed Israel, he hath overwhelmed all2. K. 25. her palaces: he hath marred allDeut. 28. her fortes: & he hath multiplyed, in the daughter Iudah,Esay 29. hath the same strange Ebrew for this matter. heavines vpon heavines.
Vau. 6 And he hath pluck vp hisPs. 76. 3. The Temple, & so in the Chaldy here. pavilion as a garden: he hath put downe his feastes: the Lord hath caused in Sion feast and Sabbath to be forgotten, & he hath lothed in the indignation of his anger, This was the maine point whervpon Koheleth wrote that all things vnder the Sun were vain. And for this the Atheist Ioakim brent the Lamentations: whervpon God told he should have the buriall of an asse: & that none of his seed should sit vpon Davids throne: & expresly that Iechonias should dy childelesse. As to this houre our Learned over Europe cannot beleeve Ieremy 22. & s. Luc. 3. for that, so in Ieremyes dayes men could hardly beleeve this: & for this the Sacrificers condemned Ieremy too. So hard a matter it is to despise the world: & to looke to the Kingdome of heaven. And further large commenting I shall not need. The learned in I brew vpon a warning may by mine examples search how still from other holy writers Ieremy fetcheth his phrases. King & Sacrificer.
[Page 22] Zain. 7 The Lord hath reiected his altar: he hath cast off his temple: he hath delivered into the hand of the Enemy the walles of her towres: they make a noise in the house of the Eternall as on a feast day.
Cheth. 8 The Lord purposed to destroy the vvall of daughter Siō: he stretched the line; he withdrew not his hand from over-whelming: both frontier and wall mourned: together they became of no strength.
Teth. 9 Her gates are sunck to the ground; he hath marred & broken into shevers all her barres; her King & her princes are among heathen thatRo. 2. haue no Law; also her prophets find no vision from the Eternall.
Iod 10 The Elders of the daughter Siō sit on the ground, they be silent; they cast vp dust vpon their head; they put on sackcloth. The virgins of Ierusalem hāg down their heades to the ground.
[Page 23] Caph. 11. Mine eyes are spent by teares; my bowels are disquieted; my liver is powred vpon the ground; for the breach of the daughter of my people; while infant & suckling faint in the streets of the of the towne.
Lamed. 12 To their mothers they say wher isEb. corne. bread wine; & when they faint as the slayn in the streates of the city; when they powre out their soules in the bosome of their mothers.
Mem. 13 VVhat testimony shall I bring for thee, what shall I liken to thee, ô daughter Ierusalem? what shall I compare with thee, that I may cōfort thee, ô daughter virgin Sion? For thy breach is great as the seas. VVho can heale thee;
Nun. 14 Thy prophets have looked out for thee thinges vaine, & which have lost the saltnes: they have not discovered thine iniquitie, to turne away thy captivity; but they have looked out for thee, prophecies [Page 24] of dispersion.
Samech. 15 All that passe by the way clap their hands, they hisse & wagge theyr head at the daughter Ierusalem. Is this the city of which they said:ps. 48. the perfection of fayrnes, the ioy of all the earth;
Phe. 16 All thy enemies gape with their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, we haue devoured: this now is the day which we haue expected, we haue found, we haue seen.
Ain. 17 The Eternall hath done that which he purposed: he hath performed his word, as he ordeined of old time: he hath broken down, and nothing spared▪ and he hath made the enemy to rejoyce over thee: he hath exalted the horne of thy adversaries.
Sade. 18 Their hart will cry vnto the Lord: O wall of daughter Sion, powre downe teares like a river day & night: take thee no rest: nor let the apple of thyne eye [Page 25] leaue off.
Koph. 19Eb. Kumi [...]. Marc. 5. 41. Arise, break out on the night at the first watch: poure out thy hart like water before the face of the Lord: lift vp thyne handes vnto him for the life of thy children, which faint for hungre, in the corner of every streat.
Resh. Deut. 28. 20 See ô Eternall & behold with whome thou hast dealt thus. Should women eat theyr owne fruict; infants that may be spanned; should sacrificer & prophet be killed in the temple of the Lord?
Schin 21 They lie in the streates,Deut. 32. on the ground, yong & old: my virgins & yong men fall by the sword: thou dost kill in the day of thyne anger; thou dost make a slaughter; thou doest nothing spare.
Tau. 22 Thou callest, as in a day of assembly,Ps. 31 14. Ier. 6. 25 20. 3. & 10 & 46. 5. & 49. 29. my feares from round about; & there was in the day of the anger of the Eternall none escaped or remnant. Them, whome I could spanne, & brought vp, my [Page 26] enemy hath consumed.
Chap. 3.
Aleph. Ieremy telleth his own misery: after wicked Ioakim brent his Lamentations, and sought to kill him, & [...]a [...]uc & he prophecieth how he shalbe vsed by the Sacrific [...]rs wickednes in sedelias times: This Chapter was added to the first book. 1. I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rodde of his wrath.
Aleph 2 Me hath he led & caused to go into darknes & not light.
Aleph 3 He is wholly bent, he turneth his hand against me all the day.
Beth. 4 He hath made my flesh and my skin wax old; he hath brused all my bones.
Beth 5Ier. 32. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall, and wearynes
Beth 6 InPs [...]43. Ier. 38. dark places hath he set me, as the dead for ever.
Gimel. 7. He hath made a wall about me, that I cannot get out: he hath laid an heavie chaine vpon me.
Gimel 8 Though I cry, and call pitiously he shutteth out my prayer.
[Page 27] Gimel 9 He hath walled in my wayes with squared stones; and turned away my pathes.
Daleth 10 A beare lying in wait, is he vnto me; a Lion in a secret place.
Daleth 11 My wayes hath he made thorny; & he hath torne me; he hath made me desolate.
Daleth. 12 He hath bent his bow, & set me as a mark for an arrow.
Heh 13 He hath shot into my reines the shaftes of his quiver.
Heh 14 [...]. 1. Cor 4. we are made a spectacle of the world. I am become a laughter to all my people: their song all the day.
Heh. 15 He hath filled me with bitternes. he hath made me dronk with wormewood.
Vau 16 And he hath burst my teeth with pible stones: he hath turned me on my face in ashes.
Vau 17 And my soule is cast off frō peace: I haue forgotten the good.
[Page 28] Vau 18 And I thought in my self, my state is vndone, and my hope from the Enall.
Zain. 19 Remember my affliction, & my vexation, worme wood & gall.
Zain 20 My soule shall still remember them, & pray within me full heavily.
Zain 21 I will set this to my hart wherfore I shall hope:
Cheth. 22 It is the mercie of the Eternall that we are notPs. 64. 7. consumed, because his cō passions are not spent,
Cheth 23 Because they be new every morning, because thy fidelity is great,
Cheth 24 The Eternall is my portion, sayth my soule: Therefore I will trust in him.
Teth. 25 The Eternall is good to them that wayt on him: to the soule that will seek vnto him.
Teth 26 It is good that a man trust & expect for the salvation of the Eternall.
[Page 29] Teth 27 It is good for a man that he beare the yoke in his youth.
Iod 26 He will sit alone, & be still, because HE hath laid it vpon him.
Iod 27 He will lay his face to the groūd, that there may be hope.
Iod 28 He willMat. 5. giue his cheek to the striker, he wilbe filled with reproches.
Caph 29 For the Eternall will not cast off for ever.
Caph 30 For though he make sorowfull he will also haue compassion: according to the riches of his grace.
Caph 31 For he doth not grieve from his own hart, nor make sorowfull the sōnes of man.
Lamed 32 To stampe vnder his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
Lamed 33 To overthrow the right of a man before the face of the Highest,
Lamed 34 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord liketh not.
[Page 30] Mem. 37 VVho is he that saith, that any thing falleth out, which the Lord cō maunded not?
Mem. 38 From the mouth of the highest cometh not the evell & the good?
Mem 39 VVhat should living man grudge, any person after his sinne:
Nun 40 Let vs search & try our ways, & returne vnto the Eternall.
Nun 41 Let vs lift vp our hart withMat. 6. our handes vntoEl. Eb vsed but here: for all the Lamentations. God which is in heauen.
Nun 42 VVe haue trespassed and rebelled: thou hast not forgiven.
Samech. 43 Thou hast couered thy self in anger, & dost persecute vs: thou hast killed, nothing sparing.
Samech. 44 Thou hast couered thy self with a cloud: that prayer should not passe through.
Samech. S. Paul translates this. 1. Cor. 4. 45 Thou hast madeHimself, & Baruc, & Vriah. vs the offscouring and refuse in the middest of the people.
[Page 31] Pe 46 All our enemies open their mouthes against vs.
Pe 47 Fear and pit is come vpon vs: ruine & breach.
Pe 48 My eye runneth with rivers of water for the breach of the daughter of my people.
Ain. 49 Mine ey floweth & cannot ceasse: because there is no rest:
Ain 50 Vntill the Eternall looke down & behold from heaven.
Ain 51 Myne eye worketh into my soule for all the daughters of my city.
Sade 52 Mine enemies haue without cause chased me as a bird.
Sade 53 They haue cut off my life in the dungeō & they haue cast a stone vpon me.Ier. [...]8. 6.
Sade 54 VVaters swim over my head, I said, I am cut off.
Koph 55 I haue called vpon thy name ô Eternall out of the low dungeon.
Koph 56 Thou diddest hear my voice,Ier. 38. [Page 32] hide not thine eare from my release; at my prayer.
Koph. 57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called vpon thee: thou saydest: feare not.
Resh 58 O Lord thou hast pleaded the cause of my soule, thou hast redeemed my life.
Resh 59 Thou hast seen, ô Eternall, my wrong: Iudge my right.
Resh 60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, al their devises against me.
Shin 61 Thou hast heard their reproching, ô Eternall, all their devises against me.
Shin 62 The lippes ofThe Sacrificers that held Ieremy guilty of death for saying that Babell should destroy the citie. Ier. 38. them that stand vp against me: & their meditation against me all the day.
Shin 63 TheirPs. 139. 2. lying downe, and rising vp, do thou behold: I am become [Page 33] They thought it so strange that Salomons race & kingdome should fall. their sonnet.
Tau 64 Thou wiltS. Paul translateth this verse against Alexander the Copper-smith. 2. Tim. 4. reward them, ô Eternall, according to the workes of theyr hands.
Tau 65 Thou wilt giue them a bursting of hart: thy heavie curse wilbe vpon them.
Tau 66 Thou wilt persecute in anger, & ridIeremy Ch. 24. told how the men of the third captivitie should come to nothing. And Ezekiel prophecied onely in their dayes: but they would take no warning. This threefold Alphabet endeth in their threefold & absolute destruction. Yet Ezra was of that captivity. But an infant. And of Anathoth cursed by Ieremy, by repentance 128 returned. Ezra, 2. them from vnder the heavens of the Eternall.
Chap. 4.
Aleph. 1 HOw is the gold dimmed, how is the pureone name of gold in Eb. cethem chāged: how be the holy stones powred out at the [Page 34] corner of all streats.
Beth 2 The children of Sion the pretious, valewed as the Fesse ore, how are they reckoned as earthen vessels, the work of the potters hand.
Gimel. 3 Even the Dragons open their breast, they give suck to their whelps: the daughter of my people is like the cruell: asIob. 39 14. the ostrich in the wildernes.
Daleth 4 The tongue of the suckling cleaveth vnto his throte for thirst: the infants ask for bread, none doth break it to them.
He 5 They that fed delicately lye desolate in the streats; they which were brought vp in scarlet embrace the donge.
Vau 6 And the punishment of the daughter of my people passeth the penaltie of Sodome, which was overthrowen as in a moment; and no handes stayed vpon her.
[Page 35] Zain 7 Her Nazarites were purer then snow, whyter then milke; they were in colour redder then the carbuncles; they were polished like the Saphir.
Cheth 8 Their visage is darker then a coale; they cānot be knowen in the streats; theyr skin sticketh to theyr bones; it is as dry as a stick.
Teth 9 The slayn by the sword are better then the slayn by hunger. For they wast away perced by wanting the fruictes of the field.
Iod 10 The hands of the pitifull women seth their own children; they became their meat, in the breach of the daughter of my people.
Caph 11 The Eternall hath accomplished his indignation; he hath powred out his hoat anger; and he hath kindled a fier in Sion, which hath eaten vp her foundations.
Lamed 12 The Kings of the earth, & [Page 36] all that dwell in the world, would not beleve that the adversarie should enter the gates of Ierusalem.
Mem 13 For the sinnes of her prophets, for the iniquityes of her Sacrificers, which shed within her the blood of the iust:
Nun 14 The blinde stumble in the streat: they are polluted with blood: that men might not touch their garments.
Samech 15 Give place, ô polluted, they cryed vnto them, giue place, give place: touch not: when they took flight, yet they stumbled vpon others. Among the heathē it was said: they shal no lōger haue a dwelling.
Pe 16 The face of the Eternall hath scattered them: he will no more regard thē. They respect not the person of the Sacrificers, they pity not the Elders.
Ain 17 Even yet our eyes are spent at our vaine help: In our waiting we wait for [Page 37] a nation that cannot saue.
Sade 18 They chase our steppes that we cannot go in the streates: our end is approched: our dayes are fulfilled: for our end is come.
Koph. 19. Our persecuters are swifter then the egles of the sky, on the mountaines they pursue vs, in the plaine fieldes they lay wait for vs.
Resh 20 The spiritIosias: the King: kild by Pharao Necho. of our nostrels the anointed of the Eternall was caught in their trap: of whome we sayd, in his shadow shall we live among the nations.
Shin 21 Reioyce & be glad o daughter Frō Esaw to the Herodes Edom hated Iacob. & no lesse then ten prophecies are against them: As Barbinel noteth vpon Obedias. Edom, which dwellest in the Land of Huz. Over thee also the cup shall passe: thou shalt be drunk & shew thy nakednes.
Tau 22 Thy punishment is accomplished, ô daughter Sion: He will noAs in Dan. 9. 490 yeres they held their land in Gods favour. more [Page 38] cary thee away: he will visit thine iniquitie, ô daughter Edō: he will discover thy sinns.
Chap. 5.
1 REmember ô Eternal, what hath befallen vs: consider & behold our reproch.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers: our houses roaliants.
3 VVee are become orphanes, fatherles: our mothers are as widowes.
4 Our water doe we drink by money, and our wood cometh by price.
5 Our necks are vnder persecution: we are weary; we have no rest.
6 VVe gave our handes to Egypt, to Assur, for to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers haue sinned; they are no more; we beare their punishment.
8 Servants rule over vs; none rescueth from their hand.
9 By our liues we get our bread; for [Page 39] the sword of the playn fieldes.
10 Our skin is as black as an oven: for the burning of hunger.
11 They defile the women in Sion: the virgins in the cities of Iudah.
12 The princes are hanged by theyr hand: the PersonsDeut. 28. 21. of the Elders are not honoured.
13 The yong men they take to grind: & the boyes fayle vnder the wood.
14 The Elders have ceased from the gate: the yong men from their songes:
15 The ioy of our hart hath ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crowne of our head is fallen▪ wo now vnto vs that we have sinned.
17 For this our hart is sick; for these things our eyes be dim.
18 For mount Sion which is desolate; the foxes walk vpon it.
19 Thou ô Eternall continuest for ever; thy throne from age to age.
[Page 40] 20 VVherfore doest thou forget vs for ever, and forsake vs so long time.
21 Turne vs, ô Eternall vnto thee, & we shall returne: renew our dayes as of old.
22 But thou hast greatly hated vs: thou hast bene exceedingly angry against vs.
Of foure repeated verses.
Turne vs, o Eternall vnto thee, & vve shall returne: renevv our dayes as of old.
The verse 21 is one of the foure which in the Massoreth Bible are Printed as a postscript for better memory: an other is the last save one in Ecclesiastes: an other the last save one in Esay: the fourth, the last save one in Malachi, as I noted vpon Ecclesiastes. These sayings conteyne the main of the writers. That in Ecclesiastes biddeth vs looke for all happines in the world to come: that of Esay telleth how all Moyses policy shall end. That of Malachy sheweth how Iohn Baptist shall begin the New Testament. And this of Ieremy telleth that God will begin a new state for his People. Vpon that they studyed in Babylon fifty yeres: and they made themselves a golden age: knowing that the kingdome of Christ was in suffrings. Afterwards they are plainly told of the true kingdome: & be renued, as of old. This verse was geven in the beginning of the captivitie for a comfort that way.