American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the {Or, appointed feast}solemn assembly;All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh:Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper;For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.
And from the daughter of Zion all her {Or, beauty}majesty is departed:Her princes are become like harts that find no pasture,And they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.
Our feet {Or, have stood}are standingWithin thy gates, O Jerusalem,
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after,In the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels.
Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
And Jehovah will make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them,
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
The tents of robbers prosper,And they that provoke God are secure; {Or, That bring their god to their hand}Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou hast done thus!Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands?Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst:The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Honor and majesty are before him:Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.